


Power couple

by Zoya113



Category: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: Extra PEIP personnel are all based off characters from the lifeline series ngl, F/M, Gen, Military Jargon, Paul and emma are the main villains, The Hive - Freeform, and they are unstoppable, colonel is main character early on
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2020-12-17 13:11:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 24
Words: 112,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21054959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoya113/pseuds/Zoya113
Summary: Colonel Schauffer is in charge of the PEIP branch developing a cure for the infection.Her job is simple enough, lead a task force to bring back test subjects for the scientists to observe and test but Paul Matthews and Emma Perkins are causing her quite a lot of trouble.





	1. A cure

**Author's Note:**

> So it’s like Schauffer is the protagonist and Emma and Paul are the big boss battle villains it’s a bit of a role reversal. First chapter is a bit slow but I promise I have more planned lmao

“Well this is going to be a bastard to fix.”

Colonel Schaffer was pissed to say the least. She hadn’t been happy to hear about the outbreak of the infection and she certainly wasn’t happy when the report finally reached her than the Infected had swooped in to claim the island’s sole survivor a whole month ago without her knowledge.   
That was a lot of paper work she had to cancel under Kelly’s name.

“So now there’s no one,” she stated to herself, but the agent who had reported the news flicked through his clipboard as if to find an answer for her. “Everyone is gone? Not a single survivor? Why wasn’t this news brought to me earlier?”   
She leant back in her chair, shutting her eyes briefly and hoping she would open them and it would all be a dream. 

“The report was sent to the General first, but it was never redirected. I’ve already sent out a memo to direct all new information straight to you. We don’t have a record of anymore survivors but all of the Infected are still successfully contained to Hatchetfield as of now.” 

“Ah mother of Christ. You’re telling me Perkins has been gone for- for how long?” 

“Almost a month now it seems. We believe it was a man named Paul Matthews who took her.”

“What about Ben Bridges? Did they take him too?” She questioned. 

“We watched the security footage and it seemed Ben Bridges was infected all along,” he stated. “We ID’d him to an office worker named Pail Matthews.” 

In that moment she wanted to scream at her team for being so incompetent, but it was as much her fault as anyone else’s, if not more. She slammed her hand down on her table. “Christ! Well shit!” She couldn’t believe she had let that slip. He had been so silent in what she had assumed was some sort of trauma, some sort of selective mute situation, but in hindsight it was so easy to see how he had tricked them all - tricked her.

She pounded an angry fist back down on the bench. “Well I want patrols increased along the channel. We don’t want anyone crossing from Hatchetfield to Clivesdale anymore, there’s no telling what damage that could cause if it spreads,” she pressed her fingers to her forehead, massaging away the growing tension. “So what do we have then, Sargent?” She cut her ramble off to cover her annoyance. 

“Not much,” he reported. “We had General McNamara’s unit taken in by the infection earlier of course, so we’re missing an entire task force.” He flicked through the pages of his clipboard. “Another General is preparing to evacuate Clivesdale citizens near the base, but in better news, the cure has had quite a breakthrough this week and good progress has been made.” 

Schaffer let out a sigh of relief, tipping her head back. One hand clutched to her hat to keep it on her head to remind her to quickly regain her composure in front of the Sargent. “Perfect. And the test subjects?”

“No incidents or breaches. The branch at the lab is making some breakthroughs in drug design though. We need you to sign off on a few things before we test it if you have a moment to come down to the lab.” 

Schaffer stood up, brushing out the creases in her uniform and fixing her hat. “Affirmative.” 

She lead the march down the hall, making sure her boots were stomping the whole way to make up for the authority she was still lacking in. She had been promoted to be in charge of the case after McNamara was infected, but this was the biggest task force she had ever been assigned to. 

Their test subjects were two teenagers, both about 18 years old. They were fairly easy to transport from Hatchetfield to Clivesdale as well, partially due to their age but primarily because of how slow their reaction time was.

The scientists had plenty of hypothesises for it too. ‘It’s because they’re young!’, ‘It’s because they haven’t been infected as long!’ The scientists spent a whole afternoon arguing over who had the more valid point as they waited for the toxicology report. 

The email had been sent out at sunset and a very red-faced Private had delivered the message to her. “Ma’am, the results suggest...” he had stammered, his stoic expression breaking out into laughter which he couldn’t quite contain. “They’re high, ma’am. Stoned out of their heads.” 

And Schaffer laughed with him. The scientists weren’t going to like that report.

The two of them were contained in two seperate observational chambers. The rooms were empty, almost like padded cells. 

Scientists in sterile, white, full body hazmat suits were littered around the room, typing away and scribbling down messy observational notes.  
“Colonel,” one greeted her in passing as she entered the lab. 

They had managed to ID their test subjects. Daniel Joseph and Sofia Hart, but it seemed they mostly went by Danny and Sof. They were being held in two separate chambers, but video evidence and observational recordings showed them lingering at their wall as if it was more comfortable to be close. And for the time being, they allowed that mercy on the teenagers.

There were plenty of ideas being thrown around. Separation or isolation, even one very angry Sargent commented ‘just remove the vocal chords! Then what’s the difference?’ So in short, things were not going very nicely. 

Both of them hummed lazy tunes, staring off into nowhere and pacing absently up and down the lengths of their tiny cages like restless zoo animals. 

Their heads were always spinning and their eyes slitted. It hurt to be so far from the Hive. But otherwise they kept up their dancing and singing, Danny liked to drum out beats on the walls and the ground, sometimes going as far as head bang or howl or even mimic the sound of dreams. 

Sof’s behaviour was harder to understand. The older scientists were confused and drawing blanks. Their first idea was that the distance from the Hive was causing a degradation in their musical abilities. She would kick her legs and pump her fists and flick her arms in all sorts of uncoordinated movements. 

It was until a younger scientist in their early 20’s was on their first visit to the lab. Taylor was a new scientist who worked in geological samples mostly, but got lost on their way to their lab and entered the testing lab instead. 

There was an immediate fear that Taylor had seen something they shouldn’t have when they laid eyes on Sof. But instead of panicking or asking questions, Taylor had very jovially exclaimed “that was the best woah I’ve ever seen!” Before returning the gesture, apologising for entering the wrong lab and leaving.

Being the only one to have any sort of ‘youth understanding,’ Taylor was welcomed into the testing lab any time they wanted and Sof seemed to like them too. It was their first establishment of inter species contact even if it was through ‘whipping’ and ‘dabbing’ and a collection of other strange moves no one but them understood.

“Why did Sophia just do that with her fingers?” Schaffer asked as Taylor approached her. 

“Oh, that’s from a Vine,” Taylor nodded sagely. “It means ‘I’m gone’ usually, I think it’s an insult. She’s really mad today.”

Schauffer grimaced at Sof. Even Danny was resigned from his usual beats, he was singing louder than usual and leaning against the wall of Sof’s chamber. 

Schauffer checked the chamber’s status on the digital panel in between the glass panes of the two rooms. Usually there were chemicals being pumped into the room to put them in ‘altered states of consciousness’ which was just the scientific way of saying ‘high’ to keep them calm. But according to the panel, there were no ‘ASC’ chemicals in the air.

“What’s happening?” 

“That’s what we need you to sign off on,” a man in a white uniform and long coat delivered a form to her. The resident doctor. “We’re sobering them up to test the new round of treatment. It’s a pill that should increase substrates with complementary structures to the virus’s receptors. They’re competitive inhibitors so it should stop the virus reproducing.”

“Lovely, perfect.” As Schauffer was reminded, she did not visit the laboratory nearly enough. She scribbled down her signature on the paper handed to her. “But how do we remove the virus?” 

“Well we already have an antiviral drug. It blocks the reverse transcriptase in the virus so it can’t reproduce or kill off cells.”

“Brilliant.” Schauffer clicked the pen back down on the table. “But the virus is already in the body,” she reminded him.

The man was quite nervous in general, but it was a good boost to her currently quite frail ego. So she straightened her back and widened her stance. “Doctor?”

“The innate immune system should take care of it. It’ll take a while though, they’ll need regular doses. We think a sort of vaccine will work better than a pill for now.” 

“Sof’s afraid of needles I think,” Taylor leant over the desk closest to the observation windows. They threw up a sign at Sof. “Gang signs,” they announced mainly to themself. 

“You know gang signs?” The resident doctor, Adam, she believed, gave them a shocked look.

“Oh nah, we talk mostly through vibe really,” they flicked their wrist very powerfully into their next jumbled sign and Sof returned it just as quickly. “And if we’re talking through vibe, Sof is pissed. Sorry, a more scientific word, infuriated.”

Taylor wasn’t good with their jargon or protocol, but no one could kick them out of the lab anyways. 

“So can we go ahead with administering the treatment?” Adam asked. 

“Affirmative,” Schauffer sighed, tired from all the tests that had failed already. 

The scientist working on the laptop besides her clicked a button and a warning siren went off overhead to alert any excess staff members to clear out. Most other laboratory staff were told to take their break while Taylor had their hazmat suit checked. 

Taylor drew up the head of their hazmat suit and wiped their gloved hands together. “Alright, party time. Stand back guys, colonel.”

Schauffer kept a hand secure on their gun as Taylor and one guard entered the room leading into the chambers. 

They took a moment to fiddle with the needles and tools waiting for them in the preparation room before Schauffer could see them enter Sof’s room. 

Of course, Sof’s reaction was offensive. She raised her arms high above her head and let out a piercing note at the sight of the guard before attempting to lunge at him.

Schauffer couldn’t hear them clearly through the glass but Taylor mouthed an apology to their test subject as the guard restrained them. 

“Vibe check,” Taylor announced loudly as they injected the needle into the girl’s neck. 

The girl writhed under the guard’s grip, convulsing violently and trying to rip herself free of him. 

The guard cursed, resorting to knocking the spasming girl out and dumping her down onto the ground to save himself being infected. 

Taylor and the guard exchanged a few words, waiting to observe Sof for any immediate changes before wrapping up and moving over to deal with Danny. 

“Good, this is good,” Schauffer reminded herself. 

“Pardon, colonel?” Adam asked.

“Just thinking out loud,” she changed her stance to a more thoughtful one, massaging her temple with her thumb. “We’re nearly there.”

———————————————————

“Don’t step away from your partner at any point during the strike for any reason. Do not leave the planned radius for any reason. Do not shoot to kill for any reason.” 

Only the highest ranked soldiers were invited into the strike. Few of them were even above her own rank, and their eyes twitched at her commands. But the Brigadier had given Schauffer power for this task because she was the last one to see ‘Kelly’ alive. 

Ugh. Everytime she thought about her she could only think about all that paper work. 

“Remember, we aren’t securing anyone we can. Don’t bother with children or the elderly. We want to target weaker members of the Hive who are on their own. Only one per group and only suitable candidates. We are only focusing on finding new test subjects. We are not breaking down their numbers.” 

Her task force gave her a confirming nod.

“And do not shoot to kill. I repeat, this is not a lethal mission. Use only your tranquillisers, and stun guns if necessary. Our aim is to take who we can. I don’t expect any more than three new subjects, and if it’s dangerous, retreat. Don’t leave your groups under any circumstances.” 

Another nod.

The cure was a work in progress it seemed. After a week of intense vomiting and fatigue and fever, Sof and Danny could speak like normal people and it had been proven that they couldn’t infect anyone else (Taylor, who had grown quite close with Sof had proven this point by encouraging Sof to bite their arm ‘just to see’) but they couldn’t kill off that urge to dance, and they still spoke in rhymes. 

Unfortunately for that, Danny and Sof were minors which meant if they were following the ethical code they could no longer experiment on them now that they were semi-human again so they were all flown back over to Hatchetfield to abduct some hopefully not-teens for the next round of testing. 

Schauffer guided them down from the helicopter pad to the bottom floor. It was an old hotel building no longer in use - the Hive didn’t need sleep anyways. They downed the winding staircase as the sound of music rose all around them and echoed threateningly through the empty building.

They split up under the order to meet back at the helicopter in twenty minutes or less, but if anyone was missing past the half hour mark they were leaving without them. This was an in and out stealth mission. 

She partnered herself with someone a little bit taller than her. She couldn’t see who it was under the helmet and mask but assumed from his build it was a man. She gestured to him to head one way as they exited the lobby, their footsteps cloaked by the ever-present singing that filled the island. 

But for a town crawling with infected zombie-aliens, they weren’t having much luck encountering any good candidates. 

They had seen a grandmother with her grandchildren and a group of teenagers and an elderly man. A boy the right age, but in a wheelchair and a girl walking with a cane. They needed someone fit and able bodied to ensure their results could be generalised.

They wanted someone in peak heath, but a vast majority of the Infected they were seeing were elderly or teenagers. Anyone at a more suitable age was walking around in duets or choruses.

Schauffer moved in silence, one shoulder pressed to the wall of the building as she crept down into the closest alley way. It was a narrow and lined with trash cans weren’t in use either.

“Spotted,” her partner spoke into his mic and gestured Schauffer down behind a group of trash cans, his tranquilliser prepped. 

She dropped down to one knee, gaining a line of sight between two rubbish bins.

There were two targets in their direct line of sight, engaged in some sort of bickering duet.

One was a tall man in a cop’s uniform, dark glasses hiding the blow glue of his eyes. He was tall and looked reasonably strong. He was their best bet now that their time had dwindled to a measly ten minutes before meeting. Unfortunately, the cop looked to be scolding a younger girl in some intense, stupid jazz song along the lines of ‘Hey! Don’t smoke weed in public areas’ that made her groan. 

“Is everyone in this town high?” Her partner sighed, raising his tranquilliser.

“Don’t, she looks too young. She’s probably a minor,” Schauffer gestured for him to lower his gun. “Go for the cop.” 

“Won’t he notice if he loses his interlocutor?” He argued.

“Yes, but I’ll take care of the kid, you get the cop,” she hissed, raising herself up to move in. 

Her partner hesitated briefly, not prepared to put away his tranquilliser. “Wait! Get down!” He grabbed at the strap around Schauffer’s shoulder to pull her back down, holding his breath. 

Schauffer heard the singing before she saw the sight, but she knew how serious it must’ve been from the fact her partner just broke in-field protocol.  
He had pulled on her so fast that she had dropped to both knees and he had rolled onto his back. 

Schauffer raced to get a clear view of the street from their hiding point. 

“Target sighted!” She called through her mic so he could hear her over the louder than life singing. She prepped her tranq, her hands steady with practice on her target. 

Emma Perkins, or now officially known as Kelly Elswood, was walking down the street hand in hand with who she once thought was Ben Bridges. If the skip and the rhythm in her step wasn’t enough indication, then the blue stain around her lips was quite a clear sign she had been infected. 

Schauffer rested her free arm on top of the sticky, mental bin lid and squinted through her gun’s crosshair. “I need you to get ready. That’s our new target, white shirt, black shorts. Cover the other three targets, I’m going to-“ 

“Colonel, you don’t have a clear shot. There’s too many of them, it’s not possible. We can’t have witnesses.” 

“It’s possible,” Schauffer snapped. “Change of plans. You take the target, I’ll cover the others.” She didn’t wait for his confirmation, pulling the trigger on the cop who promptly collapsed. 

None of them expressed surprise, but Paul and Emma changed their harmony, their eyes landing on him rather casually. The teenager only knelt over to retrieve a small bag of marijuana from his hand that had been confiscated from her.

“Go, go, it’s clear, shoot!” She hissed to her partner. “The woman, get her! Clear shot!”

She saw it happen in almost slow motion. The shot fired and Paul and Emma saw it at the same time. Paul pulled Emma into a single spin before dipping her, in theory, it would’ve protected Emma from the dart.

But in practice, the girl stood back up from the cop’s body before immediately toppling over as the dart landed squarely between her shoulder blades. 

“You are fucking with me.” Schauffer’s hand slapped her forehead, not even bothering to look over at her partner. “I’m going to kill that Paul Matthews with my own hands if I have to.”

Paul and Emma didn’t even seem phased at the two bodies in front of them, but the former, while unable to locate his Hunter was not pleased that someone had attempted to hurt Emma and he was showing it. His teeth were bared and he would be frothing at the mouth if he could. His face was painted with an anxious, blue sweat, his free hand balled into a fist, when he yelled he sprayed blue spit from his mouth. 

“Ah!” Emma gave him an affectionate grin. Almost too affectionate. “Oh boy of mine, there’s no need to worry. We’re both just fine.” She stood up on the tips of her toes to give him a long kiss. It was almost a bit to passionate for Schauffer to look at comfortably, and the fact the Infected didn’t need to breath didn’t make it any better. 

Paul eventually drew away from the kiss, a happy, blue blush covering his face. But where Emma had been holding his cheek there were bloody fingerprints. And then almost as if they had forgotten, they stepped right over the bodies to continue down the street with a cheery, love-struck tune. 

Schauffer and her partner gave each other equally confused looks. 

It wasn’t as if they had really forgotten, more like the two of them couldn’t possibly picture any sort of threat that would endanger them, and had brushed off the collapses of their colleagues as irrelevant in each other’s company. They thought they were invincible. 

Schauffer hunched her shoulders in to tuck herself between the trash cans as Paul and Emma continued cheerfully down the street with a song in their hearts and a skip in their step.

“We missed,” her partner breathed. 

“They’re fast.” Schauffer wiped the sweat on her hands off on her pants. “The others weren’t that fast.” 

“Doesn’t matter. Let’s just get these guys back to the helicopter, look at the time,” she ordered, ducking out from their makeshift hiding spot onto the road. She grabbed the young girl, scooping her up in her arms.

Her partner hauled the tall Officer up onto his shoulder. He was almost too tall to carry comfortably. 

“Why’re you bringing the kid? Can’t you give me a hand with him? It’s one person per group.”

“We’ve wasted too much time to come back empty handed.” She had something to prove to herself. “Maybe she’ll be older than she looks.” 

Her partner didn’t argue with her but she could feel he didn’t agree, and that he was mad with her as he lugged the cop back up the staircase. 

They made it back to the helicopter pad at the twenty-five minute mark, dumping their finds into the second helicopter. 

“Where’s your partner?” Schauffer pointed at a soldier at the edge of the group. The numbers were uneven. 

“He got taken by them,” whoever he was he sounded breathless. “They grabbed him and infected him right on the spot. I saw it!”

“Who grabbed him?”

“These two infected bastards!” He held one hand to his own arm as if it was injured, and his stance was lacking. 

Schauffer groaned. “Black pants, white shirt, brown hair?” She asked, she had quite a good idea who this mystery duo was. 

“Yeah, did you see them? I tried to shoot them and they dodged! Dodged an actual bullet! Fuck!”

His colleagues turned to him worriedly as he spoke. 

“They grabbed him and ripped his fucking throat out like it was nothing! Now he’s one of them!” 

Schauffer shook her head. She didn’t want this man scaring the task force.   
“We can’t deal with that now, get into the helicopter so we can get out of here!” She gestured them up into the first helicopter. 

“They’re like the Hive’s power couple,” someone whispered to another solider as they climbed up into the helicopter. 

Schauffer climbed into the second helicopter herself. It was being used to transport their Infected haul, and she wouldn’t risk anyone else transporting them but herself. 

There were four bodies in the containment cell all up. She expected more, but for now It would do just fine.

There was the teenager she had brought, along with the cop they had shot down. An older looking man in a perfectly pristine suit and someone who would be about the same age as Taylor with a head of perfect brown hair tangled around her shoulders. 

It was a good catch for their first strike. 

She climbed into the front seat, glancing at the unconscious bodies that all tangled and entwined with each other from the way they had been deposited, but they almost looked to be cuddling. 

But four didn’t make up for the soldier she had lost. If things went right, they could definitely cure him again. His loss was and always would be on her conscience, and everyone who doubted her leadership was going to hold it against her until she could fix it.

Schauffer sighed and laid back in her seat, giving herself only a second of rest before preparing the helicopter for take off. 

“Oh Kelly. You’re in so much trouble once you’re cured.”


	2. Patients

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obviously there are difficulties that come with briefing the patients after they wake up, but definitely not the difficulties Schauffer was expecting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This probably won’t be a fic I’ll be updating daily bc exams n stuff & also I’m still working out the middle a little bit it shouldn’t be too long between chapters hopefully !

Deb awoke to the sound of her ears ringing. The air smelt so sterile that it burnt her nose and her eyes were watering the moment she opened them. Her stomach felt deeply sick and her head was spinning. 

She didn’t remember a thing. 

For now, she was laying on a shitty, hospital bed and she could see nothing but white until someone caught her attention. 

“Miss Deborah Knight?”

Deb groaned. “Deb. Don’t ever call be Deborah,” although she had no clue who had addressed her. She shut her eyes tight and laid a hand over them to stop the bright light shining in her eyes. 

“Fine, Deb. Better? How’re you doing?” 

“My head hurts like a bitch.” 

“Do you remember anything?” 

She rolled onto her side, her body feeling too sore to even locate where the noise was coming from. “I dunno.” She wrenched her eyes shut and for a moment she was sure her mother had just come to wake her up for school. 

“Miss Knight?”

“Ugh,” she clutched the blanket in her fingers and could feel a small tug on her skin. She blinked open one eye to see a small drip on the back of her hand. “Oh my god, am I in hospital?”

“We’ll explain everything to you shortly. I need to ask you some questions. Does the name Paul Matthews mean anything to you?” 

It tickled something in her brain, like it was something once very familiar to her that she had just now forgotten, the answer was still in there somewhere but she couldn’t find it. “Is this a test?”

“What about Emma Perkins?”

“This is a nightmare. I finally died and went to hell for being gay and hell is just a 24/7 test I don’t know the answers to.” She let her eyes adjust to the bright light before slowly twitching them up to look at the speaker. 

She had a woman’s voice, but it was deep. She couldn’t see her face under her hazmat suit, but the mask was cracked open ever so slightly so she could see her mouth move as she spoke. Whoever was speaking to her couldn’t hold back a small snicker. “Certainly not. You’re alive, girl.” 

“Ah, dope,” Deb nodded. “What’s happening?”

“Does the term ‘Apotheosis’ mean anything to you?”

The memories came back to her slowly like her brain was thawing. “Wasn’t that a dream?” 

“There’s a lot we will have to cover with you. You can call me Colonel Schauffer,” she put a hand on Deb’s back instead of shaking her head. “And briefly, you’ve been cured from the infection. We’ve used the second beta run of the vaccine so consider yourself lucky.”

“Second run?” 

“Our first two subjects didn’t have as much luck with the first round. There was a lot of vomiting and fever, writhing on the floor in their own sick for about a week or so... no one thought to attach them to an IV which ended awfully because no one on that island has eaten or drunken anything for quite a while now. You’ve only been out for five days.”

“Well I’m fucking exhausted, man, oh sorry, colonel.” She gave a tired salute. Her eyes bore into the plain white walls. 

“What about the names Sofia Hart and Daniel Joseph?”

This time, Deb recognised them. “Sof and Danny!?” She shot up, the drip yanked from her arm. Now she could see what was happening. “Yeah, I know them! Where are they?” Then she gasped. “Is Alice with them?” 

Schauffer didn’t nod but she didn’t shake her head either. “We’re a specialised branch of the US military, PEIP. We’re in charge of cleaning up the incident in Hatchetfield, and I’m in charge of finishing it up.” She picked up a clipboard from the end of the hospital bed. “Interrupt me if I’m wrong - your full name is Deborah Lynn Knight, you’re 18 and enrolled at Hatchetfield high.” 

“Yeah. That’s right,” she did roll her eyes when the colonel read out her full name though.

“Perfect. Well apologies for holding you up. You’ll be quarantined to this cell for about another week just for observational purposes.”

“Cell?” Deb asked, glancing around the empty white room. 

Schauffer gestured at the wall. “One sided mirror. Taylor!” She called. “Turn down the dimming!” The wall she was gesturing to paled and she could make out shapes on the other side. “Say hello to the scientists of PEIP. Your meals with be delivered to you at 8am, 1pm and 6pm. Water is provided when you ask and upon request a guard will escort you to a washroom.”

“Am I in fucking jail or some shit?” Deb rubbed her eyes. “When’s outside time?” She huffed. 

“You’ll just have to deal with it until we know you’re clear. We took blood and skin samples earlier and we’ll take more come Wednesday. If they’re clear you’re good to go.”

“What day is it today?” She rested a hand on her head, shooting a bothered look at the observational scientists. 

“Do you feel any desire to sing or rhyme or dance?” Schauffer evaded the question and posed her own instead. 

Deb shook her head. “What sort of question is that?” She snorted. “Of course not. I want to see my girlfriend. Where’s my girlfriend? Alice-“ she was about to give her full name when the colonel shook her head. 

“No Alice under any name. We have Daniel Joseph, Sofia Hart, Melissa Faith, Ken Davidson and Robert Jefferson.”

Anger stirred in her stomach. “Well where’s Alice?” 

The colonel shook her head. “We can’t answer that right now. Most likely in Hatchetfield still. Now I know settling in will be difficult so is there anything we can do for you? We understand you want Alice, so we’ll keep an eye out for her on our next round, alright?” 

“When’ll that be?” That wasn’t good enough. She needed her girlfriend with her right now. She missed her, she needed her to be okay.

“It’ll be when it’ll be. Now, if you’ll excuse me I have to attend to our other patients. Just ask for Taylor if you need anything and they’ll give you a hand.” 

——————————————————

Her next two patients were relatively easy to deal with.   
The officer, Robert Jefferson behaved as a respectable officer should. He was calm through his confusion, able to respect the quarantine laws. He asked about his force and his family, and what had last happened. His only request was that his younger brother was brought back safely, and that he had full trust in Schauffer and her force.   
Quite honestly, she liked Robert.

Ken Davidson was another case, he was up and walking about his room already, pulling his IV along with him. He was still fixing his suit and preening his hair and didn’t let down his appearance for as much as a minute.   
He took the news reasonably well, perhaps a little too well. Schauffer believed that he thought he was still dreaming, no reaction at all.   
Maybe he didn’t understand.

“Is there anything we can do to ease your time in Quarantine? Any special requests for people you’d like us to look out for?” 

“Carol Davidson,” he nodded, the only breakthrough in his otherwise calm exterior. “My wife, my muse, my source of light.” 

That single rhyme was enough for her to declare him not entirely clean, and she had to knock him out on the spot with a single clean blow.

She held her hand up above her head. “Okay, he’s not ready yet!” She called to the observing scientists. 

Her final appointment was the most difficult for a very unexpected reason. 

Schauffer entered the next containment cell, assuring her suit was still on properly when she noticed the patient was already awake. 

“Hello? Am I dead?” She asked quietly but with a lot of curiosity behind her words. She didn’t seem very bothered at all. 

“No ma’am, you’re quite the opposite. I’m colonel Schauffer with special branch of the US military, PEIP.” She didn’t shake hands with the girl.

She was sitting up in her bed and playing with her hair, she looked young in the face but Schauffer knew she was an adult. 

“Uh oh...” she trailed off like she had just been caught doing something she shouldn’t be. 

“Melissa Faith, 23, employed at CCRP technical?” 

Melissa nodded. “So I’m alive?” 

“Yes, very alive.” 

“Oh that’s good! So where’s my cat?” 

“You’ve been unconscious for five days. You’re currently in PEIP-“ Schauffer blanked. She wasn’t expecting that question. Almost everyone asked where they were first. “Your cat?” 

“My cat!” Melissa nodded incredulously, already impatient. “Am I not in hospital? I don’t care what happened, who is looking after my cat if I’ve been out for five days?” 

“Uhh, miss. We aren’t really in charge of that.” 

“Uhh, did you not look at my emergency contacts? I literally keep a card in my wallet-“ she patted down her pockets but came back empty handed.

Her wallet had been confiscated off her before she was admitted.

“A card that has all my medical information and emergency contacts and I even have a sticky note with it that had my address on it so that someone will look after my cat if something happens to me!”   
She pounded her fist angrily on the bed, but it didn’t make much noise. “Five days!? Who’s been feeding her?” She adjusted to get herself out of the hospital bed as if she was about to walk right out of her cell and down the bridge to Hatchetfield to feed her cat right now. 

Schauffer sat her back down. Her head reeled. This girl’s cat was not something she was aware of. “I’m sorry, you want your pet cat?” 

“Yes! My cat! My baby!” She enunciated each sound like she had assumed Schauffer was deaf. “Yes! Where is she? Where’s my house? Who’s been looking after my cat? Tell me Paul’s been looking after my cat.” 

“Paul?” Schauffer hushed her. “Paul Matthews by any chance?” 

“Uh! You’re dodging the question, mister! My kitten! My little, precious baby, has Paul been feeding her or not!?” 

Schauffer’s training had not ever prepared her for this circumstance. This girl couldn’t care less what she was here for, she had answers but she wasn’t exchanging them for anything. One thing was comforting though, she clearly wanted her cat more than the Hive.  
Schauffer deemed it safe to tip back the hood of her suit ever so slightly just so Melissa could see her face.   
“Miss, actually. Colonel Schauffer.”

Melissa’s face went bright red and her jaw dropped. “Oh! Miss! Hello! I’m sorry, I thought you were a man. I’m glad you aren’t! But I’m worried about my cat! She’s an indoor cat, and I guess I overfeed her a bit but it’s been five days!” 

Schauffer nodded at her words just so she would stop rambling. “Welcome to PEIP headquarters. You’ll be briefed on your situation by one of the observational scientists while you’re in holding and-“

“Wait, oh my goodness, am I in jail?” Her eyes widened. “What did I do? I mean, I didn’t do anything but I’m innocent! I don’t do crime, I know a lot of kids my age smoke and drink but I don’t do that I don’t do crime, it’s bad!” 

“Good to know that, Miss Faith. Now, if you’ll listen, you’re currently in-“

“How long will I be in? Can I organise someone to feed my cat?” 

“You’re in quarantine.” Schauffer had to speak over Melissa to get a word in. “You’ve recently been cured of an infection dubbed ‘the Apotheosis.’ Samples have been taken from you already but you’ll be in Quarantine for another week at least. Do you have any requests?” 

“Uh, Yes Miss, my cat. She’s white with green eyes and she’s the prettiest cat you’ve ever seen. Her name is Mew, like the Pokémon and she has a pink collar.   
She lives at my house and I want to know she’s okay.”

“You don’t want us to look out for a human? A sibling or a friend perhaps?” 

Melissa’s eyes rolled about her skull, breathing out a puff of air like she really had to think about it. “Gosh. I’m an only child, I suppose I hang out with my boss?”

“Ken Davidson? He’s already in quarantine, luckily for you.”

“Oh!” She nodded her head pleasantly. “Then I guess my friend Paul?”

“Matthews?” Schauffer prompted. “Do you know him?” 

Melissa’s attention dropped off again. “Does this mean you won’t bring my cat back?” 

“No, no. Fine. We’ll bring your cat back for you.” Schauffer stood up from the foot of her bed, nodding in disbelief. This woman couldn’t care less about where she was.   
“Anything else?” 

“Oh, my bat. I need that to-” Her jaw hung open as if she wasn’t done talking and Schauffer could pin point the moment her memories came flooding back to her. 

“Alright. We’ll get that all for you. Just ask for Taylor if you need anything. We’ll go...” Schauffer sighed as if she couldn’t believe she was saying it. “Get your cat.” 

She scraped her hazmat suit off and left it in the preparation room, sighing loudly at the polite snickers that rose from the overseeing scientists. “We’ll have to take her to questioning later.” 

“Where are you off to now, colonel?” Someone asked when she didn’t stop to talk.

“I suppose I have to fly a whole helicopter all the way back over to Hatchetfield to get this lady her cat.”


	3. Hiding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Schauffer swears it’s not her fault but she knows it is

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn’t reading quite right but can u tell Schauffer is dealing w some bottled up stuff right now

“Wait, we’re going to get a cat?”  
Confused whispers were passed around the helicopter the whole ride.

“Yes. Seriously,” Schauffer had to announce each and every time.

“Why don’t we wait until next patrol?” Someone whispered through their mic, not for her to hear, but she did.

“Because!” She didn’t know why she had to keep explaining herself. “This girl has information and we aren’t getting it out of her until she sees her cat.”

“I don’t blame her,” a soldier with an older sounding voice spoke up. “My daughter used to be inseparable from her cat. Best friends, like this,” he crossed his fingers. 

“Great to hear that. You’re coming with me then,” Schauffer ordered him as she landed the helicopter. 

The whirring of the blades came to a slow stop as the task force piled out. Only a group of six, herself included. 

The other four were in charge of bringing back any sort new test subjects. The cure was still being bettered daily, and it was fine to start breaking down the Hive’s numbers.   
Relocation could start once their holding cells ran out, that was a problem she would have to fix soon. 

They landed the helicopter in Oakleigh park, the closest landing spot possible to the address Melissa had provided. 

They all knew the routine and scattered the second they were out of the helicopter. 

The single soldier she had requested join her waited. He was tall. Very tall. He had a broad build and a collected composure. The patch on his uniform told her he was a lieutenant. He would be a good partner. 

They didn’t need their mics much, she gestured for them to head one way and they walked in silence, their heads swivelling one way and then the next, hands tight on their guns. 

Melissa lived in an apartment block. It was small and humble and really not much to look at.   
The sticky note her address was on said just as much of her personality as anything - there were hearts dotted over the ‘i’s and it was cursive and fancy. There was a note on the backside that put it very plainly ‘if in an emergency please feed my cat’ with a little smiley face at the end. 

Schauffer crumpled up the soft pink sticky note into her pants pocket as they marched up the stairs. 

The Infected didn’t need sleep, so apartments and hotels were always safe spaces. 

“What’s your name, lieutenant?” She asked, just trying to make general conversation as they climbed up the stairs.

“Jeffery,” he answered. 

“And you said you had a daughter?” 

“Yes, she’s 23 now but she’s my pride and joy. She’s studying medicine in the Ivy league and I could never be so happy, colonel.” 

“She sounds like a lovely girl. Must be very smart,” she nodded, letting the chat lull for a moment to listen out. 

“What about you, do you have family colonel?” 

She shook her head. “No. Not anymore, Lieutenant. Raised an only child and my parents are out of the picture. Never got along well with them anyways.” 

“I’m sorry to hear that, ma’am.” 

“Don’t be. I’ve worked hard enough to be proud of myself, that’s for sure. I can promise you I‘m doing well for myself.”   
Soldiers, especially of their ranking in PEIP weren’t supposed to know that much about each other in the real world. The conversation came to a natural halt.   
Schauffer was proud of her status though.   
She didn’t have anyone else in her life so she had plenty of time to pour into her job. The field was like a second home to her, not much scared her anymore these days. 

Behind her, he signalled something to catch her attention and when she glanced back at him he tapped his ear. 

She paused to listen out. Somewhere, very quietly was the sound of singing. 

They both acknowledged what they could hear and advanced on high alert. Her fingers wrapped around the trigger of her tranquilliser.

Her partner tilted his head at the door to Melissa’s room, it was already half open and as they approached it, it was clear that it was the source of the music.

She held out a fist over her shoulder to tell him not to follow her as she made the risk of peering through the slit in the door. She shifted back and forth to view the room through the gap, eyeing it up and down.   
For all she knew, the cat was infected. 

The sound was a beautiful, entwined humming, accompanied by the sound of footsteps moving across the floor in a slow dance. 

Then a meow. 

“I don’t know where she is, love,” one of the speakers began to sing, a man’s voice. “But you’re doing so great, there’s no one else I could ever be so proud of.” 

“Not even me, babe?” Came the woman’s voice. 

“It would be demeaning to be proud of someone above you, and that’s something I knew ever since you made your first debut. You are perfect, my love, in every sense of the word. To think otherwise would just be absurd.” 

From the sappiness alone she had a good idea of who was behind this door, her idea only emphasised by the disgusting sound of kissing following up.

When it finally stopped, the man began to speak again. “I’m sure Melissa will come home soon. You just hold on, baby.”   
She recognised the sound of dry food being tipped into a bowl, that was when the singer came into her sight. 

Paul Matthews. 

His lips and cheeks and collarbone were painted blue, and there was slime dripping from his mouth down his chin like dribble. 

She lunged back from the door, retreating back a few steps and sending an emergency gesture to her partner.   
She tried the nearest doorknob but the door was locked.   
“Two targets, identified. They’re dangerous,” she reported to her partner, trying the door knob again. She gave him the evacuation signal. They had to get out of the hallway before Paul and Emma exited the room. 

Her partner gestured at his tranq questioningly instead and Schauffer shook her head, shooting the evacuation sign again. “Did you hear me or not?” She snapped. 

The singing stopped. 

“We must have company! Isn’t that so great to see?” 

She watched, horror-stricken as the doorknob turned and light from inside the apartment flooded out, the unsettling, jagged silhouettes of the two Infecteds outlined on the floor. 

“Go!” She shoved him back down the staircase. There was no use fighting those bastards until they knocked their numbers down some. They were fast, faster than the usual Infected and they were dangerous. 

Over her shoulder she caught a single glimpse of Emma by Paul’s shoulder. She was walking without a limp but the skin under her bandages were swollen and her back wasn’t straight, like her body was giving out under the alien inhibitor’s effects. Her face was just as blue as his, with small lip imprints across her neck and down her arm to her hand.  
In contrast, her blouse was dotted with red splatters and her fingertips covered in dry blood. A sickening grip came over her face when she saw Schauffer. 

“Go, go, move!” She growled, giving him another push when he wasn’t moving fast enough.

She knew from the start he was an older man. He had a daughter, he had to be forty at the youngest from the sound of his voice but he could be much older.   
And unfortunately it was showing. There was no way she would run in front of him or leave him behind but he just wasn’t moving fast enough. 

“Don’t bother with your gun, soldier!” She warned. Last time she had tried with her tranq Paul had gone completely feral, she didn’t even want to find out what a gun would do. 

But the man kept fiddling with it, slowing down in favour of getting a better grip on his weapon because he knew he couldn’t outrun them. 

He was a lieutenant. He should know better than to disobey and order from her. Why wouldn’t anyone just listen to her?

She grabbed him by the collar to force him around the corner, slamming him against the wall to tell him to stay there. “Stay put soldier!” She hissed, forcing his gun back down. 

Paul and Emma were coming down the staircase, singing some sort of ‘I’m going to find you’ bullshit like a horror movie. 

Schauffer bit her lip to hide its trembling, clenching her eyes shut very briefly as the footsteps grew closer. “Do not fuck with these two, got it? Don’t even try, promise me you won’t try.”

Her partner did not respond, his head titled upwards to look over her.

She could feel one of them walk right by her. Their cold shadow fell over her face and their breath was on her neck.   
Her eyes widening, her hands not sure what to hold onto so she balled them up instead. They were not continuing. They were waiting, seconds away from their hiding spot. 

“They’re hiding,” Emma sung. 

“Oh well I do love a game,” Paul sung back.

He reached for his tranq this time. But she couldn’t risk opening her mouth to tell him to stop. 

He held a finger to his lips and Schauffer shook her head. 

God. He didn’t know what he was doing. He didn’t even know about that last soldier that they tore apart. He had never seen Paul and Emma in all his life for all she knew. 

If he landed a hit on one of them, the other would tear him to shreds. 

He moved quietly and ever so slowly into a shooting position, aiming his gun instead of just listening to her. 

She made the gesture for ‘stop’ once more with a firm hand but he ignored her.   
“I have a clear shot.”   
The noise was already out of his mouth. He had no other choice but to shoot and he did, but Schauffer smacked his wrist, knocking the shot away from them. 

The dart flew between the two of them and their eyes followed it to the wall. 

She had tucked them into a dead end. There was nowhere else to hide.

Paul’s chest started to heave, his teeth biting down on his lips. His eyes were stuck to where the dart had landed, his breathing growing rapid.

She had expected that much from him, but not from Emma too. She had hunched her back, her fingers outstretched like claws and a real growl coming from a guttural point in her throat. 

“Go, get out now!” She took his collar, pulling her along with him before Emma or Paul could break out of their shocked states. This man just couldn’t keep up on foot though, she was about three seconds from picking him up and carrying him when she was tugged back. 

Her partner was pulled back from her vice grip, sending her colliding into a wall. 

He didn’t even have time to scream before Emma and Paul were upon him. They took his throat first.

“Hey!” She screamed, trying to run back up the hallway, this time with her gun in hand. The second she was anywhere close to them Emma grabbed her by the collar and pushed her back down. 

She was stronger than any human on the planet. Schauffer felt herself thrown before she hit the ground halfway back down the hall. Her head smashed with the wall and her helmet fell down over her eyes. 

She could hear an awful, squishing and crushing sound like meat being pulverised  
and an intense wave of nausea hit her like a baseball bat.   
“Fuck,” she cursed before blacking out.

“Colonel?” Someone called for her through the mic. 

She opened her eyes. They felt heavy and sore like she had been punched in the face. 

“Colonel Schauffer, do you read?” 

She pressed a numb hand to the talk button and a crackle of radio waves tried to bring her back to consciousness. “Read,” she replied before letting her hand drop back down to her side.

“Fucking shit...” she felt like she had just tumbled down a cliff. She could pinpoint about thirteen seperate aches in her body, and she had the worst headache she had ever experienced. 

“Colonel? Where are you? Your task force has already evacuated, this is an air picket. We thought we’d try our luck paying you.” 

“What time is it?” 

“Nineteen hundred, Colonel.” 

She took her hand off the comm button. “Fuck.” Even though she had just woken up she was still catching her breath. The ground beneath her felt like it was spinning. She couldn’t even remember what she was here for. “Okay. Loop and meet me at Oakleigh. I’m on my way.”   
But she didn’t want to move. The aching was set deep in her bones like each one had been hacked at. 

“Alright. We’ll land in ten,” the person on the other side of the comm replied. “You should show up this time.”

“Don’t Alpha Charlie me,” she huffed, managing to crack a smile. “I’ll be there this time. There was a complication the first time.” Although she didn’t remember what exactly had happened until she titled the lip of her helmet back from over her eyes. 

The walls were painted red. Blood splattered down the hallways and over the walls and even on her shoes.   
She jumped up, regardless of the pain circuiting her body, sprinting over to the scene.   
It looked like a murder. He must have been absolutely mutilated.   
There was so much blood everywhere she couldn’t even tell where the deed was done.   
She had seen a lot of death in her time on the field. All sorts of sick torture dens and deep web red rooms. She had been a first responder on war zones and pile ups and terrorist actions but nothing compared.   
She actually felt sick.   
It was like waking up inside a nightmare.   
The blood was thick across the carpet and it squelched under her boots which each step she took.   
There was no body of course. They would have infected him after they were done with him.   
That was almost a saving grace. She couldn’t imagine what would happen to his body if they had no use for it.   
She clutched a hand to her throat. Something tugged behind her eyes and they began to burn as she threaded through the hallway, the lights flickering overhead.   
Surely she wasn’t crying. She didn’t cry. She was the colonel. She was in charge of this whole operation and she didn’t cry. She was in charge of this whole operation and she wouldn’t. She was in charge of this whole operation and everything relied on her and she let the man down. 

“I am not-“ she refused to let the words come from her mouth, swinging her fist into the apartment wall instead. 

The walls were cheap and they gave way at her touch, leaving a hole the size of her fist. 

She had come here for the cat. That was her mission objective. She headed up the steps, her boots leaving bloody footprints on the carpet. 

Her thoughts were too jumbled.   
Jeffery, or maybe Thomas. She didn’t remember his name. She didn’t remember his face or his voice. She couldn’t remember what he looked like except in the instant she felt him tugged away from her, when she saw their fingers dig into his trachea and tear it out like it was just tissue paper. 

She kicked open the door to Melissa’s apartment and the cat hissed, bearing its fangs and cowering down, its tail spiking out and its eyes wide. 

“Come with me, fucker. We did this all for you.”

The cat backed up, hissing and spitting before darting under the kitchen table. 

“I’m not fucking getting down there! I’m taking you to your stupid owner and out of this stupid town, okay? Can you not just listen to me!? Why does no one want to listen to me!?” She didn’t have this time anymore. 

Her mind no longer held thoughts in it. It was like a heavy, grey fog had settled in her brain, but it felt more like someone had just poured concrete into her skull.   
She was getting images but she wasn’t perceiving them. They came like distant memories of photos - blurry and unclear and still. 

One of the cat hiding by the table leg, it’s hackles raised and fear in its eyes. 

One of her grabbing the corner of the table and upturning it in one swift motion. 

Something instinctual kicked in when the comm crackled in her ear and she held down the comm button to mutter senseless nonsense in reply, unable to think.

She grabbed the cat by the scruff of its neck and tucked it under her arm. 

It writhed wildly in her grip, it’s untrimmed claws unsheathed. It raked them across her side and she bit back a hiss of pain.

“You fucking bastard!” She held a hand to her spinning head before wrestling her black sweater off from under her utility belt, it strangled at her arms and her neck but she needed it off faster than it could come and that wasn’t acceptable. 

She bundled the cat up in her sweater to stop it hissing and swiping, tucking it haphazardly in one hand and pulling out her real gun with the other. 

She took the fire escape. She wouldn’t dare walk back through that hallway. 

Some sort of warning was flashing in the back of her head not to run down the stairs so quickly, but she was leaping down the flights at whatever pace she needed. She wasn’t letting anyone down, not even herself. She had no grip on time, but she was sure she cleared the fire escape in ten seconds flat. 

She was in charge and that was what was expected of her. She had to be the best. She had to command power and strength and keep an eye out for her team.   
That was what made a good colonel.   
That was what made a good leader.   
She had to be a good leader, oh my god. She had let him die. 

Jesus Christ and she had let it happen. 

She was the one who yelled and caught their attention. She was the one deflected his clear shot. She was the one who couldn’t get him to run fast enough. 

She was lucky she didn’t encounter and Infecteds because her safety was the last thing on her mind. Similarly, they were lucky they didn’t encounter her. 

She grabbed the handle of the stationary helicopter and leapt in, collapsing down on the passenger seat.   
She didn’t know how many people were in there.   
“Fly!” She ordered.

“Colonel, are you okay?” The pilot asked. 

“I said fucking fly!” She repeated, her grip in her gun shaking before remembering to put it back in its holster. 

She buckled on her seatbelt, putting the cat under her tanktop to keep it safe, half-scared it would worm its way out of the helicopter. 

Once she was buckled in the Adrenalin wore off, and her body had nothing left to keep it awake. 

———————————————————

“Hey, colonel!” Taylor threw her a wave as she stormed into the observatory lab. 

“Shut it down, I’m going in there. I got her her fucking cat,” she ordered. 

Taylor quieted down, pressing the warning button and beginning protocol. “Do you want me to take it in or-?” 

“I’ll do it! That’s what I said!” 

“Okay, I’ll get your hazmat prepared,” Taylor scurried off before Schauffer could tell them not to bother. 

She opened up the door to the preparatory room and marched straight into Melissa’s cell. 

The girl was sitting on her bed, staring absently at the wall and playing games with her fingers. 

“Here’s your cat,” she announced, dropping it down on Melissa’s bed. 

It hissed and spat some more until Melissa scooped it up, cooing and fussing over it almost instantly. “Oh my baby! Oh my baby I’ve been so worried little mewmew! I was so scared, I was so so scared!” She pressed little kisses to her cat’s forehead. 

Schauffer felt a pang of guilt for treating the cat so harshly, but that was the least of her problems.

“Oh you’re my baby, you’re my baby, my little baby,” Melissa was choked up, speaking fast as if to make up for the time she had been away. She hugged her cat close to her chest as if she was scared it would vanish if she let go. 

“We’ll arrange food and whatever for your cat,” her voice had started strong as she began the usual informing, but it wavered as the information she knew by heart slipped from her head. “Organise it with Taylor,” she tried again.   
She turned her back to Melissa. She didn’t care for all the love she had to give to that cat. 

“Colonel Schauffer?” Melissa cleared her throat. She was tearing up herself. She hopped out of her bed, her bare feet pattering across the floor as she ran up to hug the colonel. “Thank you so much,” was all she could say before bursting into tears. She pressed her head against Schauffer’s white shirt, dampening it with her tears. 

“Miss Faith,” she was supposed to push her away. She could still be infected, and Schauffer wasn’t wearing her suit. 

“Colonel Schauffer! I’ve been so worried all day that maybe I’d never see her again and oh-!” She burst into another bought of tears, unable to bear even the thought. “Thank you, thank you for going all that way to bring her back! She’s my best friend, I don’t know what I would do without her! Thank you so much!” 

Schauffer let her hold on, placing a hand on her head and stroking her thumb gently over her hair. She wasn’t going to admit it even to herself, but she did need this now. She needed to feel like she hadn’t let everyone down.   
PEIP didn’t even know about Jeffery. 

When Melissa finally let go, she crouched down on the floor. She was torn between hugging her cat and hugging Schauffer and that was too difficult a decision for her to come to, so she just didn’t move. The girl had tired herself out from stress and tears and she had had quite enough of the day, just like Schauffer herself.   
“Thank you, colonel Schauffer. You’re my hero. You’re so brave and kind,” she wiped her red eyes but she had not stopped crying at all. 

Schauffer held a hand to the damp spot on her shirt, nodding her head and holding back tears of her own.  
She wouldn’t cry.   
“I’m glad to hear that, Miss Faith. Please be sure to let me or any other staff member know if we can be of any other assistance to you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg fjshfjsh okay I know this was rough I know someone’s going to come out of this like wait Schauffer is an animal abuser?? No she isn’t I swear i just couldn’t write that anger and denial and stress properly she doesn’t hate animals I swear


	4. Maybe it shouldn’t have been me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Schauffer has a lot to do

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH this ones shorter than I thought bc I spent more time researching military jargon & trying to find out what time California ran on, otherwise I would’ve been very strongly implying PEIP was an Australian organisation glad I caught beforehand lmao

“Colonel Schauffer? We need you to sign off on the new subjects that were brought in yesterday.” An agent had asked her, stopping by her spot in the mess hall with a clipboard in hand. 

The mess hall was loud with gossip. They were all asking about the lieutenant. “He’s gone over the hill,” someone further down the bench speculated in between messy, sloppy bites of his chipped beef. 

“Nah. The colonel didn’t report until about nineteen hundred, didn’t you hear? He’s probably out there too. They split up. Total break if protocol.” 

“Colonel?” The agent tried again for her attention and she turned around so quickly she had to adjust her beret. 

“Yes soldier?” 

“There are three new participants you have to sign off on.” 

Schauffer wiped a hand across her mouth with a questioning look. It was the first she had been told of any new subjects.   
“How many did you say?” She turned in her seat on the bench to face her speaker. 

“Three,” he repeated, proffering the clipboard towards her. 

She was sure she had just misheard him over the mess hall chatter. She pushed her tray away and stood up, leaning in. “Three?”

“Affirmative.”

“We only have four containment cells,” she pointed out. 

“Are you busy right now? There are a few problems that need dealing with immediately.”

“Lunch is shit on a shingle, soldier. Does it look like I’m busy?” She didn’t have an appetite anymore anyways. She lifted up her grey, plastic serving tray and scraped it into the bin without regret. 

Lunch was always bland and mushy, and even though she had grown used to it the sound of the canteen workers scooping it up and slapping it onto unclean, filthy trays never failed to make her feel sick. 

They weaved between off-duty scientists and soldiers on their way to the galley doors. 

“D’you hear about the shavetail?” She heard one solider chatting to a friend in passing. 

“I heard he was called over the big voice and never showed up on attendance,” another muttered. 

Everyone was talking about the Lieutenant, she could hear his name all across the mess hall, the message spreading over trays of mashed potato and beef throughout the whole cafeteria like an intricate pathway from soldier to doctor to agent to intern. 

She knew what had happened to him. Maybe Emma had provided her a mercy with knocking her out, she couldn’t hold back a violent shiver when she closed her eyes and all she could see was red.   
Today, she would have to report him as Infected. 

They pushed open the galley doors and Schauffer breathed in fresh air, straightening out her uniform. 

“Could you follow me down to the lab? We’re dealing with the situation best we can for now.” 

“Affirmative, Officer. Can I have one moment though?” It wasn’t really a question, she could take whatever she wanted if she so pleased, but she wasn’t that sort of leader. 

The agent nodded his head and marched off on his way. 

Schauffer waited for him to turn the corner before exhaling, leaning against the wall.   
Her eyes strained against the bright hallway lights but she didn’t want to close her eyes. She hadn’t even slept last night.   
She exhaled a deep, exhausted sigh and dared to gently close her eyes. 

“Hey Col!” Two pairs of footsteps came barreling down the hallway from out of nowhere. 

Her eyes flew back open and she bit down on her tongue. Fortunately, it was only Danny and Sof who she had lost her composure in front of.   
She straightened her back and stood in her stance. “Joseph, Hart...?” She wasn’t sure what question to ask first. “What are you doing here?”

“What’a you think of my new look?” Danny jokingly put on a twirl. 

They were both wearing the standard issue, black PEIP uniform, both very over sized on their teenage frames.

“What are you doing in the hallway?”  
They had been released from quarantine earlier in the week, but that certainly didn’t mean they were free to roam the halls of the most classified branch of the military. 

“Uuh, well they didn’t want us in the lab because we were fucking stuff up,” Sof seemed to put hard work into that answer, and Danny snickered at her. 

“Yeah. So Taylor said we should go to the dorms but uh, we don’t have beds, and also we don’t know where they are.” Danny shrugged as if there was really nothing he could do about that problem. 

“Taylor isn’t in charge of the lab, you two.”

“Well where do you want us to go?” Sof crossed her arms. 

She started to ramble, hoping to come up with something along the way. “Well how about, I want you to go on down to the cafeteria, get yourself some lunch, and then go find me some chem-light batteries, okay? Just ask around, someone will give you a hand.”

Sof and Danny nodded, excited to be occupied with any task after being shut up for a week. 

“Oh, and Doctor Adam told us to tell you if we saw you that you need to organise new clothes and accomodation for us! Thanks Col!” Sof called back out over her shoulder, but she was already running down the hall

“Uh, it’s colonel,” she tried to correct them but they were already gone.

“Yeah! Let’s get some beef!” Danny had highfived Sof before they vanished in the wrong direction. 

“Well,” Schauffer have a firm nod. They were teenagers. She marched down to the lab, adding those things to her to-do list. 

“Colonel,” a scientist waved her over as the door shut behind her. “So here’s the problem. We have three new participants in and we aren’t sure what to do with the first lot.” 

“Why did the task force bring back more participants if the holding rooms are full?” She threw a look over her shoulder to try and see what arrangements had already been made. 

“That was on the task force order on your last trip,” she scanned through something on her laptop. “For now we’ve put the past four participants in one room and the other three in separately. We can’t let them out under regulations until the end of this week.”

“Let me see them,” she departed from the scientist to head over to the containment cells. 

The first cell held their original participants.   
The four of them were looking bothered and confused as to the sudden changes. They didn’t look like they had slept last night and were keeping their distance from one another. 

Robert was standing against the wall, trying to seem nonchalant as he tried to make small talk with Ken, who was trying to pretend none of this was happening. 

Deb was scoffing profanities at the Officer whenever he spoke too loudly but was laying on the floor near Melissa, running her hands through her cat’s tail whenever it shifted from Melissa’s lap.

The secretary was quiet, her wide eyes flicking between Deb and her cat and occasionally at her boss as if to ask for help. 

Schauffer hadn’t had time to visit all of them in a while, and she still had to question Melissa. 

“We haven’t prescribed them with the new medicine yet, we’re going through another round of improvements, wiping out side effects and the like. We’ve had complains on bad, bad headaches and migraines, forgetfulness, noticeable drops in cognitive ability. We figured we’d iron those out before testing it again. Can you sign off on this sheet?” Another clipboard was being shoved into her face. 

She scribbled on the line. It wasn’t even her signature but she didn’t have that sort of time. She had barely stopped walking just to sign the document. “Can you email that to me? Thanks. Get started on the testing will you and I’ll go through it tonight.” 

She headed through the laboratory to inspect her new subjects.

The first was ID’d as Sam Miller.   
He was dressed in leather and a police uniform, so she would have to talk with Robert again to see what else she could find out about him, and more pressingly, why his skull might be hanging open. 

“Doctor Adam,” she beckoned the doctor over, pointing a finger at the glass. “Politely, why is that man’s cranium... missing? How are we going about this?” 

Adam winced. “Colonel, that’s a problem we are not sure how to fix admittedly.”   
He fiddled around with the display panel. “We’ve been testing the Hive’s healing abilities however, and it’s currently my hypothesis that if we give it some sort of substitute flesh that the body might accept it as it’s own and recover. We emailed you last night, we’re just waiting for you to sign off on those tests.” 

“Oh! I didn’t have time to check my emails last night. Sorry doctor. I was out on the task force and we didn’t get home until late.”

“Oh,” he quieted down. “The task force that the lieutenant was on?” 

She flinched ever so slightly, able to cover it up by pretending to readjust her footing. “Yes. That was the one. Or maybe. I’m not sure. I’d have to check. Why?” 

“We just haven’t heard from him since yesterday. Pretty big deal for the soldiers when a shavetail goes missing.” 

“Well that happens all the time!” She snapped. 

Adam looked up from the panel, taken aback by her volume. “Oh. Of course, colonel. There’ve been other soldiers missing too on task forces. It’s dangerous out there. Hopefully nothing serious happened to him. It was lieutenant Jeffery wasn’t it?” 

She hated hearing him say his name. She hated thinking about what she had seen and how it had all been her fault. She caught their attention and she put them in a dead end and she ruined his clear shot.   
“Yes! But we’ve lost other soldiers too! Why won’t people talk about them?”

“We are talking about them. It was Johnson and Kingston. You’re in charge of a very dangerous mission, colonel. I have a lot of respect.”

Her dread shedded messily off her skin.  
“Tell me about Sam, Adam,” she switched the topic. 

“Well, this is Sam Miller. He was an officer with the Hatchetfield police department, we aren’t sure where his injury came from but on the bright side,” he added more dryly, “he loves jazz!” He tried to sound excited but it wasn’t exactly a good indicator. 

“Jazz,” she held back a disgusted growl. Schauffer did not like jazz. 

“And this over here is Bea Garcia. She’s just turned 19 so on the bright side, we aren’t breaking any scientific ethics,” he tried to smile and Schauffer figured it was because he knew she was down. “Uh, but moving on, she was enrolled at Hatchetfield high and she liked ballet.” 

“Interesting,” she back channeled. Right now, these new subjects were just another weight on her shoulders. But it was the last subject that was really interesting. 

“This is Nora Brown. 32, the boss at Beanies Coffee. She likes tap.” 

“Beanies?” Schauffer presses her fingers to the glass, looking at the woman on the other side.

She was wearing the same uniform Emma had last been wearing. 

“How fast are you all moving along with that next round of drug design?” She asked. She would get a lot of information out of that girl. 

“Well we can only start once you signed the papers, sorry colonel. But it won’t take long. Did you run into Sofia or Daniel at all?”

“In the hall. Sent them on the look for a left-handed monkey wrench,” she huffed, gesturing with her hand. “Hoping that’ll keep them occupied until I have a second to start working things out.”

“I understand that colonel. But we do need these things done soon. Where will they sleep tonight?”

“We’re missing two soldiers, they can keep in their bunks overnight but we’ll need something for them in the morning. They keep telling everyone they’re PEIP personnel so we need new clothes for them too. We had to burn their old clothes.” 

“I know. I know. I’m on it.” She scanned Nora’s uniform once more. “Get working on the new design. I have business to attend to.” 

Her office tabled was packed to breaking with papers she was supposed to be signing. From bills for the canteen’s food to permission to test new trials.  
She started signing, skimming them and looking for the more important ones that had to be sent off before tomorrow. 

Signing off papers made up most of her afternoon if she wasn’t out with a task force.   
It was hard to adjust to.   
Before being promoted to the leader of the mission she had her fair share of paperwork but god, not this many. 

“General McNamara, you bastard,” she sighed. “I bet you got infected on purpose just to get out of this.” She dropped her pen down on her pile of papers and it rolled down to the floor.  
Her core still had a dull throb deep in the muscle from her run in with Emma, and she wasn’t in the mood to lean over and pick it up. 

She figured that was a good enough excuse to start chipping away at all her email she had to deal with, like that new drug test she should probably read over for real. 

But there was a more recent message, delivered only seconds ago from the Brigadier of all people.

It was the sort of email she lingered on before breaking the irreversible seal of opening it and learning its contents. She relished her last few sort-of-stress-free seconds before opening it.

‘Confidential

Colonel Claire Schauffer 

This is in regards to the Hatchetfield task force, placing an enquiry on the status of the mission (Dated January 2019 to current). 

The PEIP HQ did not receive a mission statement in its required time frame (7:30pm PST QOD) 

A new mission statement must be submitted by 11:59 PST. Failure to do so will result in a liaison visitation and a penalty. 

Any forwarding or distribution of this message is prohibited under the Breach of Confidence Dignitary Torts of the Privacy Law (2005) 

Brigadier General Savant’

Colonel Schauffer forced herself to kill off the signs of her nerves - she leant back in the chair she was sitting forward on, stooped the drumming of her nails and unclenched her jaw. 

She had only been promoted for about a week and she was already falling behind. But an official warning was a bit of a blow to her confidence. 

“General McNamara you fucking bastard,” she said to the emptiness of her office. “You’ve really left me doing this all on my own, haven’t you?”


	5. Interrogating

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Schauffer has some questions for Melissa about Paul

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m tryinG to convey that Schauffer’s stressed to the point she can’t see things like everyone else but it’s just noT happening omg I promise I’m not trying to make her an asshole

Schauffer was a professional. She didn’t have time to fall behind on the responsibilities she had been given. 

She had worked almost her whole life towards her rank as a colonel, and she loved her job so much that the idea of a possible promotion to General was only a bonus. 

She had just to keep reminding herself that. She couldn’t let the stress get to her. That wasn’t on her schedule. She was a colonel, she knew better than to mope. 

Today, she had finally planned to question Melissa about Paul. 

She had guards in hazmat suits escort Melissa to a private room for questioning, giving her the grace of letting her bring her cat along.

Melissa settled into the chair, holding her cat on her lap. She shot an uneasy glance around the small room before scanning the colonel to try and recognise her under her hazmat suit. 

“Miss Faith,” she begun with a sigh. “We have to have a talk?”

“Oh no, am I in trouble?” She surveyed the room again as if she was expecting some sort of hidden torture device. She leant forward to keep her cat closer to her chest protectively. 

“No, not at all.”

“Oh, in that case, d’you think you could just call me Melissa? ‘Miss Faith’ sounds really respectful and you’re the colonel of a secret organisation, and you’re really cool looking so you don’t need to be so formal.”

It wasn’t a formal move. It was supposed to represent distance, she certainly wasn’t on a first name basis with her test subjects. 

“Alright then, Melissa. So how’re you settling in?” She eyed Melissa’s cat who returned the gesture with a hiss, squirming to try and get off Melissa’s lap to get away. 

Melissa held onto her cat, scooping her up from the floor to hold her to her chest. “Um, it’s okay, I had a checkup with the doctor and he told me what was going on and I wasn’t expecting that. I just thought I was in the hospital,” she played nervously with her hair. “I liked it when I had my own room. It’s really weird to share a cell with your boss and an officer and a teenager. Also the officer doesn’t like my cat and he wants me to keep little mew to one side of the room but it was my cell in the first place! Ridiculous! She was here before he was. I want my own room back,” she declared.

Schauffer nodded, scribbling something down to pretend to make a note of it. “Well that’s on us, unfortunately. But just another day before we can move you to your own room. We don’t have many observational cells in this facility, it’s a makeshift office unfortunately. We’re located right on the Clivesdale shore Melissa.” 

“Where will we go tomorrow?” She brightened up a bit. 

Schauffer held her breath for a second, pretending to focus on her notes. “Into a nearby hotel, Miss Faith. We’ve evacuated the nearby premises for the mission so there’s plenty of space to stay. And you can take your cat with you.” 

“D’you all think about like, the animals in Hatchetfield? Like at adoption centres and pet shops? Who’s feeding them?” 

“Melissa, we’re going to move onto the questions now, is that okay?” 

“Yeah, that’s okay, but I’m still gonna he thinking about th’animal thing,” she mumbled, pursing her lips and staring with wide eyes at the ground stubbornly. 

“Okay, Miss Faith, please pay attention now. So you mentioned you know Mr Paul Matthews earlier?” She asked.

Melissa nodded, a hand stroking over her cat’s head anxiously.

“Can you say yes? This is being recorded and we need verbal confirmation,” she requested.

“Yeah. I know him. He’s my coworker.”

“At CCRP?” 

“Yeah, he works in IT,” she explained hesitantly. She seemed suddenly doubtful, like she was supposed to keep this information secret. “Why do you want to know about Paul?” She was holding her cat a little closer now. 

“Miss Faith, Melissa, this is just protocol. We aren’t supposed to release any sort of information to people outside of PEIP. I’d just like you to answer the questions I’m asking, do you-“ 

“Is Paul a criminal?” She interrupted, pausing to stare when she realised the colonel was not done talking. Schauffer tried to get another word in but Melissa continued. “Are you looking for him because he’s done big crimes? Like hacking government websites?”

“Miss, no. Paul Matthews has not hacked any government websites.” She hadn’t spoken to Melissa too much over her time here, but she sure liked to get into her head, and it was hard to get her back into reality. 

“That’s good. I’m glad. Why do you want to know about Paul for? There’s lots of people missing, not just him. Like, my co worker Bill, and Ted and Charlotte, and I haven’t seen any of the pretty ladies from the coffee shop I go to and-“

“The coffee shop? Which coffee shop?” Schauffer suppressed a gasp of excitement but it came out through a fist slammed to the table instead. 

Melissa flinched back, cuddling her cat and tucking her head down to rest it on her cat’s head. “Beanies,” she mumbled quieter. 

“And do you know Emma Perkins?” 

“Uhh, I dunno, I just get coffee down there sometimes, well not coffee but...” she didn’t finish her tangent this time, her eyes averted from Schauffer to the floor. 

“Short, brown hair, brown eyes, do you know her?” 

“I’m not sure, they all have brown hair don’t they? I don’t know their names I just, y’know.” 

“Well we have one of them in holding right now! Nora Brown, she’s the one with curly brown hair, the owner of the coffee shop,” she rushed to explain. “Emma Perkins is shorter than Nora. She’s about 5 feet tall, are you familiar?” 

“I’m sorry, I really don’t know. I wouldn’t be able to tell without looking at them? I’m sorry, colonel,” she brushed her forehead against her cat’s head. 

“Melissa, can you please sit back up? Can you answer the question please? Yes or no?” 

“No then, no. I don’t know Emma Perkins.” 

“Ahh,” Schauffer sighed. “Okay, that’s fine,” she leant back in her chair. 

“I’m sorry,” Melissa frowned, starting to show visible signs of her anxiety. She was tapping one foot on the ground and adjusting her glasses like they were constantly falling off. “I only know Paul.” 

“Well tell me a bit about Paul then. What do you know about Paul?”

“I told you. He works in the technical department at CCRP, uh, he likes black coffee. He looks after my cat if I’m out of town.” She was really racking through her brain for anymore information. 

“Can you tell me anything important?”

“Uh...”

“Come on Melissa. Does he have any weaknesses? What would stop him?”

Melissa went wide eyed. “Weaknesses?” 

“Yes! Melissa-“

“Why do you want weaknesses!?”

“Shh! Melissa! I told you we can’t give out details of our mission. Do you know or not know?” She found herself standing up, anticipating being on the verge of necessary information. “Come on, do you remember? While you were part of the Hive if he mentioned anything? Even before hand?” She leant in, putting a hand on Melissa’s chin to tilt it back up when she tried to lean down to her cat again. 

“Ah!” She gave a surprised yelp at her touch, attempting to push back in the chair but it was nailed to the floor, so she managed to fall off instead. 

Schauffer raised on the tip of her boots to look over the table at where Melissa cowered on the floor. 

“I’m sorry, please don’t touch me, I don’t like to be touched, please don’t touch me.” She adjusted her glasses and frantically looked around the room for where her cat had jumped off to. 

“Melissa, we we’re getting there. Come on, Paul Matthews, let’s focus,” she moved around the table to try and help Melissa up but the secretary shook her head, pulling her arm back. 

“I said please don’t!” She warned, getting up to scurry across the room to crouch back down next to her cat. 

“Okay, okay. Sorry Miss Faith. Can you please return to the table then? We aren’t done here.”

“We aren’t?” She winced, resting her head on her knees. “I think I’ve had enough.”

“You have to come back to the table,” she ordered her. “Sorry, that’s just the protocol.” She looked back over her shoulder at the one sided glass of the interrogation room. “Please remain seated.” 

“Sorry,” she apologised again as she hunched down in her seat. “Could you ask the question again?” 

Schauffer nodded slowly. “When you were part of the Hive,” she paused to allow Melissa to ask her thousand questions, but instead Melissa blinked, a clueless look on her face. 

“I don’t remember much from the Hive.” 

“Oh you’re kidding me!” Schauffer paced, bothered, to the wall and back to her chair. “You can’t just tell us what might stop Paul in is tracks? He’s never broken a leg? He doesn’t have bad eyesight? Anything, Melissa?” She had to give some sort of clue to her team that she was in charge of protecting. Some sort of last resort if they were caught. The information was vital and Melissa was resisting. She hadn’t seen the way Paul had torn Jefferey apart, ripped right through his skin and bathed in his blood.

“I-I’m Sorry! I can’t tell you! Why would I tell you what would hurt my friend?” She finally shot back, not putting up with being yelled at anymore. 

Schauffer gaped, spinning back around on the heel of her boots and taking up the ‘at ease’ stance, although she was far from it. “So you do know!? You just aren’t telling me?” If a swift kick to the shins or yanking on an arm could bring him down it would save lives. She needed to know. She turned back to snap an order at the people behind the glass. “Come get her. Put her through a round of testing I don’t think she’s clean.”

“No! I don’t want testing!” Melissa shook her head. “No, is there any way around this? I don’t want you to hurt us. I don’t want you to hurt Paul and I don’t want you to hurt me, please! I’m not infected!”

Schauffer grimaced, waiting for the guards to step into the room to grab Melissa but when the door opened, Taylor stood on the other side. 

“Colonel! I think you’ve frightened her!” They shook their head, their hands hovering over Melissa’s shoulders but not touching them.

“Taylor? What are you doing here?” That wasn’t part of her plan. And she hadn’t accounted on resistance to her orders. It was always with people not listening to her orders 

“I was asked to watch over observation, that’s what I’m in charge of now, Adam promoted me, man, sorry, I mean Colonel.” 

Schauffer shook her head at the young scientist. “Well I’m the one in charge here, Taylor. If there’s a risk Melissa is still infected, we can’t take it.”

“She isn’t infected, she’s just scared. Can’t you see?” Taylor picked up Melissa’s cat and settled it down in her lap so the girl would stop shaking. 

She grabbed at Taylor’s hand while her other hugged the white cat to her chin.

“Colonel, can I talk to Melissa?” They asked. 

“Put on a hazmat first at least! You’re testing your luck, Private. This isn’t your place to push in,” they pointed a finger at Taylor. “I don’t want you getting infected!” 

“I won’t be infected, Melissa isn’t infected, it’s okay everyone. I promise,” they eased themself slowly around the table, gesturing Schauffer out of her chair. 

Schauffer didn’t huff, keeping their feelings down as they sulked to the corner of the room to observe. 

“Melissa, I don’t think you understand,” Taylor spoke slowly, but not patronisingly. “Right now your friend is very dangerous. You know about the infection right? Well Paul’s still infected.”

Melissa nodded meekly and Schauffer cringed inside. None of this would be valid on the recording. 

“Well you’re the only person here who might know something that could help him, you know, any sort of weak point that the task force can focus on to capture him so they can cure him. Do you have many memories from the Hive that might be useful? We’re relying on you here.” Taylor was copying Schauffer’s script, only in a much less formal manner. 

Melissa nodded slowly after Taylor allowed her a second to think. “I don’t remember much from the Hive, but-“

“See! It’s useless. We don’t need to continue,” Schauffer shook her head. 

“Shh, colonel!” Taylor hushed her, and Melissa gave their new questioner a thankful smile. 

“I was going to say ‘but,’ I still remember things vaguely. Like a dream. I’m pretty good at remembering dreams so I’ve been thinking about it a bit lately. Paul was always with someone. The girl from the coffee shop, um, Emily.”

“Emma,” Schauffer corrected for the recording but Melissa just spoke over her. 

“He loved her. I don’t think he could function if they were separated, honestly. They just sung differently when they weren’t together. Maybe, maybe that’ll help you.” 

Schauffer didn’t like that idea, she didn’t really want it on the recording. Any attempt to separate Emma from Paul so far ended violently. Although admittedly, the ‘separation’ wasn’t so much parting them, but an intended murder. But if she were to admit that it would be the same as admitting she had failed, let down her team. 

Taylor gave a gracious nod. “Thank you so much Melissa. Really great work. We’ll get some guys to take you back to your room, okay?” 

Melissa nodded, not able to help a smile from slipping onto her face when they looked up at Taylor. 

And that made Schauffer mad. She thought she had made progress with Melissa, but now all that attention was Taylor’s. 

“See, colonel? You just have to be gentle. They’re all scared right now and I mean, I’d freak out too if I was yelled at. We’re kids, you know?” Taylor advised as the guards escorted Melissa out. 

“Thank you for your vital help, Private.” Schauffer threw back the hood of her hazmat suit and stormed out of he interrogation room. 

No one could give her any respect. Why couldn’t they just see things how she saw them?


	6. Something isn’t right

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something isn’t right in the hive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The paulkins chapter that was unplanned but I forced in bc I missed them that’s why it’s short  
I’m incredibly tired but needed to write this bc I just realised I fucked up the exam I took today so this was a little distraction that I hope helps me sleep?? Lmao

When Paul was upset, Emma was upset, and when Emma was upset, Paul was upset. And of course, when the both of them were upset so was the rest of their family. 

They had both wandered to the roof top of the Hatchetfield news station where they could keep an eye on the roads as the men in black uniforms searched the streets.

“What’s wrong?” She slid her hand along his cheek to have him look at her instead of the streets. “My love, don’t you want to sing along?” 

Paul shrugged, his shoulders awfully slumped. “Melissa is still missing. And so is her cat. There’s something just not right about that.”

“It’s a big island, did you forget? I’m telling you she’s fine, don’t be upset.” She pressed her head into his chest and hummed him a lullaby as he played with her hair. 

“Emma, I can’t hear her,” he said chillingly. His voice slipping from its rhyme into a more monotonous sound. 

Emma pressed into him harder until he had to take a step to back up against the wall. “I can,” she told him without bothering to check. She just wanted him to stay in her arms. 

“Well remember when we went to her apartment? We were attacked by those strange people in black?”

Emma rose on the tips of her toes. She didn’t feel pain anymore, but her leg had been denying her recently, and she had to hold on tightly to Paul’s shoulder to reach up to kiss his lips. “Yes, but he joined the family!” 

“Wasn’t there two of them?”

“Oh,” Emma shrugged nonchalantly, kissing him again. “No. I don’t remember.” 

“Emma,” he kissed her forehead before gesturing that she should let go of him. “We should go back and check. Melissa likes her things clean and we left it in a wreck. Anyways, maybe her cat will have come back just yet?”

Emma whined, entwining her fingers with his. “Honey, my love, boy of mine, Paul baby, stay here with me.” She pressed into him and there was nowhere for him to go except for his footing to stumble and let them both fall to the ground. 

“Hello,” She gave him a lazy, content smile, not having to shift far at all to kiss him now as she lay on his stomach.

“Emma,” he rested his hands around the small of her back, his eyes staring into hers. “I still haven’t seen Melissa. Have you noticed something isn’t right?” 

Very honestly, she had only been watching only him and that was no secret. She didn’t even have to say anything, he knew.   
“Stage fright,” she purred simply, hoping he would move along with it to give her attention. People didn’t die in the Hive, nothing ever went wrong! Melissa was absolutely fine. 

“But haven’t you seen all of General McNamara’s old friends around here lately?”

“Their bark is worse than their bite, babe. I’m sure everything’s alright.” 

But Paul wasn’t and she could feel it in her skin. 

“I’m going back to her apartment to look again.” He heaved her to her feet with strong arms, his hands catching hers. “Come with me?” 

Emma blinked, crestfallen. She wanted to spent time with him but he would only talk about Melissa. They didn’t need words for Paul to tell she was skeptical. She stood on the tip of her good foot to give him a kiss instead when they were distracted by a loud yell. 

They both turned to the road below, hopping up to the edge of the road to look down. 

“You two!” It was a tall, strong looking woman in a black uniform. She had a gun she was using to point but were fingers weren’t on the trigger. “You’re causing me grief! I have done so much paperwork under your name, Kelly!” She snapped, making an angry gesture with her gun. “When you’re both cured, you’re going to really get it!”

Emma wrapped an arm around Paul’s waist, not quite understanding what the strange woman was talking about. “Should we go down there?” She asked Paul. “Introduce her to the family?” 

Paul nodded. “Maybe she took Melissa!” He suddenly grew very mad and she squeezed his hand to calm him down as the woman continued on through the streets without challenging them, Paul watched her go. 

“Let’s follow her.”

“She has a gun. She could hurt you. I don’t want you to go,” she argued. “Did you see one of them tried to shoot us?”

“So what? She has Melissa. You stay here. I don’t want you getting hurt.” He held a hand to her chest and went to take his leave. 

Emma growled. She had expected that. “Don’t leave me!” She snapped. The anger came from somewhere visceral. Something that was part of her old life rather than her happy Hive life, and any sort of feeling like that had to be rejected. “Don’t leave me because I’ll miss you,” she corrected herself. 

Paul had felt the strange change too, and eyed her worriedly. “Emma?” He was protective of her, they all were considering she was the ‘youngest child’ of the Hive.   
Although it wasn’t like she needed the protection. 

For once, she didn’t have the words to explain her actions. They weren’t like the Hive. “Okay. I’ll stay here,” she decided. “You have to be careful though!”

He nodded, giving her one last kiss before he left to follow the woman. 

Emma waited on the rooftop. She didn’t have any other purpose rather than her Paul it felt, so she began to wander.   
A song always fixed things. 

She went down the streets, away from Paul’s direction and all the other strange uniforms. Her feet took her to a familiar place, one she knew like the back of her hand. 

He no longer raised the gates or had the fences turned on. His grand home was open for free entry. 

The house of Professor Henry Hidgens.   
She wondered whether he was home, no one really stayed home. Not when no one needed sleep or food. Plus, he always preferred to be out with the crowds to show off his incredible choreography but it was just her luck he was home today. 

“Professor Hidgens,” she sung out as she entered. 

“Emma dear!” He perked up from where he was standing in the living room and she pranced up to hug him. 

“Paul’s following those strange people around. He hasn’t seen Melissa in a while.” 

“It’s so funny you mention that. There are a few people I haven’t seen around town.”

Emma took his hand absently and he spun her around as they broke into a slow, conversational dance. Her eyes scanned his home. She hadn’t been able to concentrate or sit still as of late. Paul was right, something was off. 

Hidgens house had changed a lot since he joined the family. He had no use for security but none-the-less he had amped it up once the invasions of the strange uniformed people began. He had a lot more ‘robot assistants’ controlling just about everything in the house and all down the street. Doors, lights, radios, it was like a mechanical artillery. He hummed a song for them, Emma just wasn’t quite connecting with the Hive for some reason today.   
“Your timing is off,” he pointed out. They weren’t on the same frequency it seemed. 

“I’m thinking about other things, Hidgens,” she admitted. “I got scared today when Paul tried to leave. I don’t know why.” 

He swayed her to the side. “You don’t like being parted, do you?” 

She shook her head, harmonising with him. “Why are you home today?” 

“We sound quieter today,” he pointed out. “It’s like there are a few voices missing. It’s unusual, unsettling.” 

Emma cooed, interested. “Things are changing?” She didn’t like that idea, not one bit. She was under the impression the Hive was in a static state of perfection and anything that tested that was mind blowing. She couldn’t even wrap her head around it. 

“It’s interesting Emma,” but when he swayed her to the other side again she lost her balance entirely. If he hadn’t such a close grip on her she would’ve hit the floor.   
They exchanged surprised, wide-eyed looks. “Things aren’t right!” He gaped. 

Who made mistakes in the Hive? Or maybe it was her leg giving out on her again. Maybe she wasn’t paying any attention. 

“Maybe we should get you back to Paul?” Was all he could suggest. Make things as normal as possible, and Paul and Emma were always together, that was dictionary definition normal for the Hive. 

He held her hand tightly as he walked her back down the streets. No canter or trot, not even a skip in either of their steps.   
Why was something wrong? How could it possibly be wrong? Whatever it was, she was sure it had to do with the uniforms. 

She was limping. They didn’t even have a word for that in the Hive because they had never needed it. Why were things slipping away from her? 

As they moved, everyone stopped them in the street to inquire about Emma. The family was caring and considerate enough (mostly due to their hivemind) but she was the baby of the Hive and they cared when something was wrong. 

“Emma?” Paul met them on the street. He looked frightened and uneasy because he could tell something was wrong. 

Hidgens eased Emma into Paul’s arms. The strangeness was not fixed, the streets still sounded emptier and her head was still out of place.   
But at least in Paul’s arms none of that mattered. 

But it mattered to him. The oddities and the missing harmonies. The way Emma couldn’t concentrate properly and the way her body was giving out on her.   
The Hive was hurting, and it was showing through their youngest. No one in the Hive was going to let that slip. 

Paul was made and she could feel his anger too. The way his heart raced and his songs grew anxious and confused. The way his blood pumped faster and his feet moved quicker. 

His breaths were short and frustrated as he nursed Emma and his anger was spilling into her and Hidgens and everyone else around. 

Someone had taken his closest friend, and that same someone had hurt the love of his life. He knew who that someone was.   
The woman in the black suit.   
And she made Paul angry.


	7. It’s my job

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Schauffer has a lot to do and turns out most soldiers aren’t too trained in recognising frustration when they see it.   
But Melissa is.

There was an odd amount of chatter in cell A today.

Schauffer was sent in, prepared to give the whole ‘you will be released tomorrow’ spiel yet again, but that was not on their minds at all. 

“Melissa’s cat didn’t come with her?” Mr. Davidson enquired. “You got her cat for her?”

Melissa was huddled in the corner with her cat, scared it might be taken away. She watched with silent eyes, scanning Schauffer’s every move. 

“No. Her cat was scouted for her. What’s the problem, sir?” Schauffer took a defensive stance. She wanted to keep Melissa free of drama, especially after having scared her yesterday. 

“Why haven’t we gotten anyone we’ve requested?” Robert cleared his throat, knowing he shouldn’t be speaking down to the colonel. 

“We are working on that,” she quieted them down before anyone could question her again. “Melissa could provide a location for her cat. If any of you have locations for your people of choice you can give them to Taylor. But the Infected don’t live in doors. They’re crawling over the island, okay? It’s not that easy.” 

Melissa hid her mouth behind her cat as she spoke up. “You should though. We’re scared and lonely in here and you promised us we’d be moved out of here today.” She averted her eyes, unable to work up the bravery required to tell Schauffer off. 

Schauffer was learning quickly that Melissa was a bit of a wild card. She wasn’t sure if Melissa loved her or hated her.   
“Yes, Melissa. I know things are running behind schedule, we’re trying to get things done as soon as possible.” She squatted down to try and level with her, she reached out a finger to pat the back of her cat’s head but it snapped around and hissed at her, spit flying from its mouth.   
Schauffer wiped the spittle off on her pants with a disapproving look, understanding she wasn’t quite welcome here yet.   
“Alright. Alright. Alright. Point taken. We are doing everything as fast as we can but that is a whole island of people out there.” 

“And there are only four of us in here!” Deb rolled her eyes. “You can’t even just like, let us out of here and let us take care of it ourselves?” 

Some of their eyes lit up at that idea and she knew she had to qualm and squash it before they could grow attached to the possibility. “No. No. We have to arrange special transport and supervisors and accomodation. We are working on everything, I promise. We’ll fine your brother and your girlfriend and your wife and-“

“What about Paul?” Melissa cleared her throat quietly and her voice was still scratchy. “Will you get Paul?”

Schauffer let a dry laugh rattle out, her gaze hardening to the point no one dared question her anymore. “Paul Matthews?” To be quite honest, she barely wanted to spare him at this point. She wanted to shoot him dead for the amount of trouble he was causing, and Emma was on thin ice too. 

But little Melissa was brave. She nodded her head. “Yes. He’s like a brother to me and I want him to be okay.” 

Schauffer’s heart did something strange. Her angry grip on Paul’s mental image loosened and she couldn’t recollect it. “You two are really close are you?”

She nodded. “And I don’t know why you’ve been asking so many questions about him. I-I’m uh, I’m scared. For him and for me and for us. I’m scared of this place and what’s going on.” 

Schauffer steadied her breathing, so busy tussling with the thoughts in her mind to take her glare off Melissa or respond to her. 

“We’re scared of you, colonel,” she finally admitted. A quiet, shy chorus of agreement rose from her roommates. 

“Well PEIP has taken your suggestions and worries into consideration and we will act on them as soon as we can,” she bowed stiffly. “Thank you for your patience and we will attend to you shortly.” She turned on the heel of her boots and tried not to storm out of the room. 

“Did you all hear all that?” She barked at the observational scientists who all nodded. “Perfect. Start with all of those papers I have to sign so we can get this moving, alright?” She stomped out of the lab as the scientists all scurried off to work. 

“Oh! Colonel! Perfect timing!” Doctor Adam’s voice called for her as he ran down the hallway. “We’ve got the new cure underway. The final version should be ready tomorrow! We’ve been using this great rational drugs design and mimicking IgE antibodies and histamines and-“

“Doctor Adam, with full respect and in the most polite way possible,” she gave him round, attempting-to-be-patient eyes. “I am a colonel in a hurry and not a doctor and I did not understand a word out of your mouth. I’m happy and proud but please tell someone who understand,” she gave him a pat on the back.

His eyes opened wide, embarrassed. He began to stammer something out but Schauffer threw him a quick salute and headed on down the hall. It was her lunch break which meant it was time to go shovel down another ratpack and drink poorly filtered water. 

“Colonel,” a group of field workers passed her on their way out but she was moving too fast to reply.  
The stomp of her boots got people out of her way pretty quickly and she was at the front of the food line in minutes. 

“Hello Barbara,” she greeted the canteen lady. “What’re we eating today?” She held out her tray, irritated as something sticky touched her fingers. 

“Soup and mash,” she informed her, spooning it out and dumping it onto her tray. 

“Thanks Barb,” she gave a forced, unnatural smile before finding a seat at the end of the long line of tables. 

“Hey colonel,” the warrant officer greeted her through his mouthful of rosemary soup. “Busy day?”

She nodded, not wanting to be rude but definitely not in the mood to chat. Not that she often was. “Busy alright.”

“Mm. I was taking the noncom roll today and Jesus! They just would not pay attention,” he elbow her with a laugh. “Isn’t that annoying? That’s why I submitted it late. God. Some of the new kids just don’t know when to shut their mouths huh? Drill took forever.” 

“Oh yeah? That’s busy?” She nodded, taking in a mouthful of mashed potato.  
It was gritty and the wrong texture and sort of tasted like there was a rock or two in there. 

“A disaster!”

She let the jabber and squawk of the rest of the canteen drown out the warrant officer as she slurped down her soup.   
Somehow, with all the talk in the cafeteria all she could hear were mentions of her lost soldiers. Gossip about her slip ups. Mentions of how late the program was running.   
She began to bounce her foot against the floor. 

An officer approached her with another dreaded clipboard in his hands. “Sorry to bother you while you’re eating, colonel. We just want your estimate on when Hart and Joseph are being moved from the facility?” He kept an ‘at ease’ stance but then he whispered to her: “ugh. They were up all night asking us questions in the dorms. They said they’re part of this ‘high prestige club’ too. I tried to tell them PEIP wasn’t really a ‘club’ but then they went on about their smoke club.”

Schauffer just listened, not able to muster up the motivation or energy to face another round of critiquing and paper-signing. 

“They’re like yeah! Woo! Smoke club! Apparently Deborah Knight was in the club too and they’ve been sneaking into the obby lab and talking through the mic. It’s bothering the participants and the scientists. This morning they got in and spoke through the mic into the test room pretended they were ghosts or something? Miss Knight told them off for it but only because Miss Faith believed it and cried.” 

Schauffer ran her tongue around her lips and let out a tired, unfortunate and droning sigh. “They aren’t allowed in there.”

“Taylor lets them in. Maybe you should tell her off,” the agent shrugged. “Anyways. We need you to sort of fix this problem soon.”

“Agent. I’ve got a whole list of things to do. But it’s up there. Top ten okay? Just hold out a little longer.”

The agent handed over a clipboard and she didn’t bother to scan the attached paper before scratching out a random squiggle on the signature line so he would leave. 

“Yeah. You should talk with those two kids,” the warrant officer leant into her, so close the side of his beret touched her hair. “They actually tried to sneak into the roll call today. You need to get them new clothes and soon.”

“Didn’t you hear me, Officer? I said I was on it,” she elbowed him back to play off her frustration. 

She decided she was done with her soup and picked up her tray, walking off to the bins.   
She had to get onto these things fast. She passed through the chatter and loose greetings, weaving through clusters of soldiers who no longer stepped aside now that she had stopped stomping.   
She was scrapping her ‘mashed potato’ into the bins when someone tapped her shoulder. 

“Fuck!” She grabbed their wrist from her shoulder and twisted it behind the perpetrator’s back. 

“Colonel Schauffer! Sorry!” It was a younger agent, and when they looked up she realised it was Taylor. 

“Taylor,” she scoffed, breathless with surprise. “You know you aren’t supposed to sneak up on people like that.”

“You forget I was with geological sampling beforehand I’ve never been in the field my whole life, I didn’t mean to scare you man, I mean colonel.” They gave a brisk nod, rubbing their wrist. 

Schauffer fixed their stance, patting down Taylor’s uniform.   
“What’s the matter? And also stop letting Sof and Danny into the lab.” 

“The lab and participants want to see you,” they informed them. 

“Is something wrong?” 

“No?”

“They want me back down when I’m on my break?” She almost chuckled. “I was just there.”

“Yeah but all the participants have written out the addresses of their friends and family and they want you to go check it out,” they shrugged. “They heard you went straight for Melissa’s cat so they want you to head over to the island.”

Schauffer snorted, suppressing a headache. “‘Head over?’ Just go for a walk? Do they know how many papers I have to sign to get a force together and prep the helicopters and cages? Do they know we don’t have any more chambers to keep them in? Do they remember that I told them it wasn’t that easy?”

“I get you’re mad but I‘m just the messenger. Don’t get mad at me,” Taylor took a step away. “They all know that, that’s why the lab wants you back down. They want you to get a move on with all that stuff. The doctor with the blonde hair, Elise, she made a list for you.”

Schauffer pressed her thumbs to her eyes and the groan that came out turned into a laugh. “Get a move on!? I hope you’re paraphrasing!”

Taylor didn’t have time to answer when a private entered the conversation. “Hey, just had to interrupt quickly,” he put a hand on Schauffer’s shoulder, exchanging eye contact with her and then with Taylor, giving a polite hello. “Was wondering if you could talk to Barbara? She was being a huge bitch when I said I didn’t want mash. Can you maybe talk with her today and take the mash potatoes off the menu?”

“Hahah,” she laughed. “Oh you’d like me to go talk to her? I’m not really involved with the kitchen staff, Private.” 

Taylor flinched, catching a flash of the unadulterated aggression in Schauffer’s eyes. 

“Yeah I know, you don’t technically have any power over the kitchen but you’re in charge of the mission so maybe you could?” He made a suggestive noise, gesturing at the head chef behind the counter. “Y’know, just use your power to scare them out of making it? It tastes shit.”

“Can you not perform well without a five star course?” 

“Hoo boy,” Taylor rubbed their forehead. They knew just how dense this Private was being. 

“Well I like my energy. I’m pretty good with my fists, y’know? And it’s like, if I don’t get my meal daddy gets mad? Ya know?” When Schauffer couldn’t find the words to answer he continued talking. “So if you could go talk to her right now that’d be so great,” he gave a confident smile as if he knew Schauffer was about to head over there and bribe Barbara to stop making mashed potatoes. 

“Thank you for the feedback, Private.” She gave him a look that very clearly read ‘I’m about to lose my fucking mind’ but he only smiled back. 

“No problem. I think the whole force will appreciate it. You can go get that done first.”

She nodded. “Thank you for the feedback, Private.” This time through gritted teeth. 

“No problem, col,” he grinned, going to turn away when she slapped a hand to her forehead.

Here came the headaches. He put a hand on her shoulder to make sure she was alright and Taylor reached out for her hands, trying to comfort her. She lashed both their hands away, one landing securely around the private’s shirt.   
“It’s colonel! It’s colonel to you!” She barked. She practically saw his spirit leave through his eyes.

When she relinquished her grasp he legged it out of the cafeteria as fast as he could, his boots skidding on the linoleum floor and alerting the whole room. 

Everyone stared at the colonel. Halfway through mouthfuls of food that she could see as their jaws dropped. 

Everything went silent as they stared at her. 

“What?” She snapped. “What are you looking at? Do you all have a reminder for me? What do you want me to fix!?” People started to look away, shielding their gaze as she dared one of them to lock eyes with her. 

“I’m working on it! I’m working on everything okay! It’s all on my list and I’m capable and in charge and I know apparently it doesn’t look like it but I know what I’m doing!”

“Oh, colonel, don’t yell. People are looking.” Taylor lowered their eyes to the ground, crossing their arms but covering their eyes with one hand. 

“Okay! Sorry! Just- that didn’t even happen okay? Everyone go back to your food! Sorry it’s not five stars! I am your colonel and I should not have to make that apology!” She held out her arms as the last of the crowd looked away. “You know what Taylor? I’ve had enough.”

“You’ve had enough?” They echoed, their eyes searching Schauffer up and down for some sort of hint of what they were planning to do. 

“Yep! I’ve had it up to hear! I am up to my ass in shit, Taylor! I’ve had enough reminders, if no one can handle a wait then they won’t have to! I’m off to fix it all right now!”

“Right now!?”   
Schauffer took off towards the cafeteria doors and Taylor ran after her. 

“Yes! Right now! I don’t need a task force, I can go myself! We all joined PEIP and yet somehow General McNamara and I are the only ones willing to die for this!”

“Colonel!” Taylor’s voice almost broke. “You shouldn’t be so eager to-“ they didn’t finish talking. Schauffer has stopped in her tracks and they knew she had heard them. 

“We have to be prepared to die in the line of business.” Her voice lowered and she only waited a second before continuing to march down the halls. She pushed open the door to the lab and beelined for chamber 1 before anyone could speak to her. 

“Give me the addresses,” she ordered, snatching sticky notes out of people’s hands before they could even try and get them to her. 

Melissa uttered a frightened, anxious sound. Something scary flashed in her eyes and she changed her posture, letting her cat out of her lap for the first time. 

“I’m going over to Hatchetfield by myself right now and I’ll go fix your problems for you okay? You don’t have to be patient anymore you’ve waited long enough!” 

And then back out of the lab, faster than she came in. She didn’t want to bother with answering questions or filling out paper. 

“Where are you going?” Taylor asked at the doors. 

“I’ll take Paul and Emma out and bring back fucking everyone. Give me one day. Tell the lab I’m off for a day, okay?” 

Taylor made a panicked, incoherent noise. Their eyes flicking between Schauffer and the lab, Schauffer and the lab, Schauffer and the lab and then something else. 

She didn’t care. Schauffer could barely hear. Her heart was racing and all her blood had rushed to her ears. Her storming turned into a run as she headed up the stairs for the helicopter pads. 

It was the fastest take off she had ever done, only strapping herself in once she was in the air. She let the whipping, cold air pull at her hair and her clothes and cool away the fiery heat in her body. 

Her headphones were on tight with the comm channels off. She didn’t need to hear from anyone. 

She looked down at the channel below, eyeing Hatchetfield for any immediate signs of danger. Then she looked into her rear mirror, watching Clivesdale and the PEIP base fade into the distance.

Relief. 

Very short lived relief. 

She kept her eyes on the rear mirror, too done to overreact or freak out. 

She put her arm on the back of her chair and twisted around to look in the back seats. “A stowaway,” she announced to the girl in the back seat, clutching onto her seat belt. There was fear in her eyes that insisted she didn’t know what she had gotten herself into.

“You’re a far way from your cat, Melissa. Isn’t this a bit bold for a secretary?” 

The girl shrugged, pointing at her ears. 

“Oh!” Schauffer pulled a pair of headphones from the console, clicking the comm channel back on and repeating herself. 

“It’s scary but not bold! I am a secretary. Isn’t it my job to help?” She pressed her hand to her heart. 

Schauffer cracked a smile. “You think so? I should really be turning this chopper around and putting you back in your cell. How’d you get out?”

“You didn’t close the doors, you were in such a rush. You looked...” she searched for the word. “Fucking pissed?” She suggested. 

Schauffer nodded. That was about it at the core. 

“No, abandoned! You looked frustrated because you were alone!”

“And how do you recognise that look, Melissa?”

Melissa rolled her eyes. “You’re the colonel. You can put two and two together. I want to give you my help. It’s not much but all I need is a bat and a pen and I can get anything done!” She sounded like she had efficacy. 

“I’ll kill myself if anything happens to you, Melissa. But I’m giving you a shot, okay?”

She nodded excitedly. It was promising. “I’m glad to help you!” 

Maybe Schauffer wasn’t entirely alone.


	8. The Hive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Hive is onto PEIP

Schauffer kept one hand on Melissa’s shoulder as they walked, keeping her under her arm and close to her chest. 

There was no weaponry in the helicopter, but they were lucky to find a slightly oversized helmet in the back seat. 

She was surprised Melissa filed a complaint about it. Apparently she knew a lot about soft ball, and an oversized helmet was her worst enemy. 

She had offered to take her to a sports shop or have a look around a department centre, she didn’t want to waste time with Melissa unarmed. But the girl insisted she needed the bat in her apartment.

“Your apartment is a long way away,” Schauffer tugged at the collar of her uniform. “There are plenty of other places to get bats.” 

“No, I know what my bat is capable of. One time I was practicing my swing and one of my team mates walked up behind me and I smacked out five of his teeth and cracked his helmet. That kid went to hospital!” She declared, sounding fond of the memory. 

“I’m sure that has nothing to do with your bat of choice, we shouldn’t go to your apartment.”   
The blood would still be there. It had painted the walls and stained the carpet. There was no way she could expose to Melissa to that. Yes, this was for Melissa’s sake. 

“No. I need my bat. It’s lucky.” 

Schauffer shook her head firmly. “No. Paul Matthews has been scouted in that area too many times.”

“Even better! Maybe he’ll recognise me! We should go! We should go!” She tugged at Schauffer’s sleeve and flashed her eyes she couldn’t say no to. 

“Miss Faith, I can’t stress how dangerous your apartment block is right now,” she clenched her jaw. “If a single thing happens to you, the Brigadier will-“ she cut herself short with a hiss. That was not Melissa’s business. 

“The Brigadier will what?” Melissa questioned. It wasn’t angry or inquisitive. She probably didn’t even know what a Brigadier was. Her question came from a place of concern. She rested her head against Schauffer’s side. 

“This mission hasn’t been going at the pace it should be,” Schauffer huffed. She just needed to vent.

“Ooh, really?” She frowned. “I think you’ve been doing really well. You’ve been getting lots done. I see you in and out of the lab like five times a day,” Melissa nodded. 

“I have been doing work,” Schauffer agreed, but it felt nice to have someone say that to her. “The General is the rank above Colonel, you see. But he was infected so now it’s my responsibility. I just can’t get things done as fast as him, and I’m a week behind because no one forwarded his information to me!” 

“Ugh! Ridiculous! That’s just unfair on you,” the secretary pouted.

She let Melissa guide their steps, her head titled to the sky as she rambled on. She couldn’t stop the words leaving her mouth. 

“I know! And it’s only twice as hard because General McNamara should be in charge so no one has been listening to me. The Brigadier has been busting my ass over this. All the emails say ‘ruck up or hats up, you’re a snake eater, you can do better.’”

“You eat snakes?” Melissa raised an eyebrow, managing to lock eyes briefly with the colonel. 

“It means a good field agent,” she explained. It didn’t technically count as breaching privacy if Melissa didn’t understand the slang, did it? 

“Oh good. Because I wouldn’t really like it if you ate snakes. You know I had a cousin who was really weird and he would eat sand from the sand pit, and like, crickets and daises? Yeah, didn’t like him much.”

“Melissa, you’re interesting,” Schauffer lowered her voice, carefully surveying the streets. Things were oddly silent. “You’re what we in the army would call a football bat.” 

“Football doesn’t have bats,” she shrugged, scrunching up her face. “That doesn’t make sense.” 

Schauffer was reminded that Melissa was the one guiding them when she steered them too close to the middle of the street.  
The music and singing was growing just a little too loud and she was yet to change paths like Schauffer would have.   
Melissa had been leading the way the whole time, and had taken them all the way back to her apartment. 

“Melissa, we can’t go in there.” She grabbed Melissa’s collar. “I’ll get you a bat from somewhere else but this is the zone of action and we should be avoiding it. We’re headed to these addresses remember?” 

Melissa looked up at the roof of her apartment. “I think this’ll be a game changer, colonel,” she stated as if she had any say in what PEIP declared as what.   
“I’ll make a deal with you. You let me get my bat from my room and I’ll show you where Alice hangs out.” 

“Alice?”

“Deb’s girlfriend,” Melissa nodded. “I saw her around. I remember her a bit from when I was in the Hive.” 

Schauffer ran the sticky note through her gloved hands. “You know I’m the colonel of PEIP, don’t you? Of the United States military? The colonel? I could demand you give me those answers and you would have to.” She didn’t get why Melissa thought she could play games. 

“Well yeah you could. But will you?” Schauffer was going to interject when she continued. “I know other things too. I remember lots of little details. It’s how my brain works, that’s my job after all.” 

Melissa was a jackpot of information guarded by naïveté, a lack of social awareness, and a stupidly large amount of self-certainty.   
“If we go to your apartment we take the fire escape. Okay? We are not going inside.” 

Melissa jumped up and down once. “Thank you colonel! Come on, let’s go then!” She grabbed her hand, bolting off towards her apartment. 

She barely gave Schauffer time to remember the mess she had made in her apartment trying to get her cat.   
“Just be careful. Don’t go running off.” Schauffer readied her tranq and her gun. The music was growing louder and louder with every step towards her apartment.

On the fire escape she could hear their concerned voices clearest.   
Pressing Melissa down below the windows, she peered inside.  
“Jesus, it’s like everyone in Hatchetfield is in there!” She gaped.

The hallways were packed, surely past the buildings capacity.   
They were pressed up against the walls and crammed in the hallways. There were people on top of the vending machines and riding each other’s shoulders.   
No space wasn’t being utilised. 

The difficult part wasn’t leopard crawling up the fire escape to stay out of their line of vision but getting Melissa to stay quiet and do the same. 

“Drag yourself with your elbows,” she instructed, but Melissa was getting tired before even crossing the first flight.   
“On a scale of one to ten, how much do you need this specific bat?” 

“One hundred,” she answered. “Listen. You do your little crawl if you want but this is a fire escape and it hurts my elbows!” She got on all fours instead, hurrying up the steps quite efficiently. 

“Melissa!” She hissed. This was almost a baby sitting job. She raced to her feet, but keeping her back low she darted after her. She kept her steps light, careful not to shake the stairs. 

Melissa was two flights up, staring in through the window. Her fingertips pressed up against the glass and her eyes searching for a gap in the crowd. “Something’s going on in there,” she mumbled. 

“Oh now what in god’s name is happening here?” She gaped. Schauffer stood a few steps further up to peer in through the window over the head’s of the infected. 

They had formed a circle rather conveniently outside Melissa’s door. 

Paul lingered uncertainly on the side, one arm outstretched to Emma in the middle.   
An older man had his hands around her and it almost looked like she couldn’t hold herself upright without his aid. 

But everyone’s attention was focused on someone she couldn’t quite see, but could hear, and she recognised his voice far too well. General McNamara.

All the Infected were chanting and slamming their fists against the walls and the floors like wild animals, wild with excitement at whatever the General was proposing. 

Paul and the older man were confused. Their expressions were painted so differently from the rest of the Hive. And not to mention Emma, who was flinching and twitching and unable to remain steady.   
Something was very wrong here. 

“She’s not like us!” McNamara declared to his onlookers. 

The older man spat back some defence but Schauffer was distracted as Melissa snuck up to her side, looking at Emma closely. 

Emma’s eyes were blue, and even if she was twitching it was still with rhythm. She wasn’t clean, it was just off. 

“Oh, reminds me of when my headphones only work at a certain angle. Is it sort of like that?” Melissa suggested curiously. 

“Shh, Shh,” She hushed her, but she did take it into consideration. Maybe the real Emma was breaking through, or maybe the Hive was deteriorating. 

The latter idea made something click in her forehead. To be not only isolating and removing citizens of the Hive from the island but to also be curing them would surely have some grander effect on the Hive. 

It would be working just the same as the synaptic pruning or long-term depression of a regular brain.   
If something isn’t used the brain removes it to focus attention on other, more important parts. 

And those side effects had to be showing through Emma! The last person to be infected would be the weakest part of the Hive mind according to her hypothesis. 

Emma looked bad, too. She lacked the shine of her hair and the wide smile and bright eyes. Her bandaged leg couldn’t hold any weight if she wasn’t holding onto the man in the turtleneck. 

General McNamara entered the circle of Infecteds, grabbing Emma’s chin and tilting her head black. “She’s losing touch,” he waved out a hand to keep the attention of the Hive. He leant down to her lips, the blue slime oozing out from between his teeth. 

There was an out of place fear in Emma’s blue eyes and she looked up at the man she was balancing on, but he did not move her away from McNamara. 

“No!” Paul’s voice boomed out.

The Hive all backed up, even the older man released Emma, relinquishing him to Paul’s grasp. They shied back into the shadows, she could hear some of them fleeing out the front door. But those who stayed remained transfixed on Paul and the General. 

“Emma is fine,” he hugged her to his chest. “Emma is still part of the family. We do not make accusations like that!”

“Then why can’t she dance? Why can’t she focus? What’s her problem? We have to fix her!” McNamara pointed a stern finger at her. 

“They’re infighting,” Melissa whispered as Schauffer slowly ducked down to the ground. 

The Hive began to grow jittery.   
Blue, flashing eyes scanned the room uncertainly, watching the two men with an eagle’s stare. 

“No kidding.”

“There is nothing wrong with Emma! It’s a greater problem! Have we been so blind as to notice how many fellow sisters and brothers and siblings we are missing? Before anyone touches Emma, we find them,” Paul crossed his arms, glaring at anyone who accidentally drew the circle too closely to Emma.

Schauffer saw the movement of a familiar suit in the crowd step forth and she only had time to cover Melissa’s eyes before she saw him again. 

Jeffery, the sergeant.   
His black uniform was turned a rougher, burgundy colour stained by his blood. He raised one mangled hand that was covered in blue flecks for attention.   
When it was given to him he gave McNamara a respectful bow.   
“It’s the agents of PEIP that have caused this mess,” his voice was clear and musical despite the gaping hole in his throat. With each sound he made, blue splatted spat from the hole. 

Melissa made some movements to try and get Schauffer’s hand off her face but Schauffer was frozen stiff by the sergeant’s appearance.   
She had let that happen to him. 

The plastic of his visor was cracked in, revealing a dark hole where his eye should have been. His skin was purple and black with bruising and his face looked warped like the skull was broken. 

“Yes!” Paul roared. “The problem is not with Emma! When we find our siblings we will find the infidels!” 

Everyone cheered. Schauffer took that as her cue to duck lower. She took Melissa with her as she pressed up against the wall below the windows. The shadows of the people inside casted over her eyes, hovering above her head. 

Even General McNamara had listened to Paul. 

Things were all upside down. Why was the General listening to the orders of some everyday man? Why was the Hive collapsing in on itself? 

The Hive was losing its power. There never should be infighting in a group that prided itself on being a family. Not to mention, The sergeant’s injuries hadn’t healed.

“Quiet, Melissa.” She didn’t turn her head to look at the girl, but could feel her forcing her head up to try and look in through the window, her lips wrenched shut to try and hide her whimper. 

There was the sound of footsteps as the Infected flooded out of the hall, each step like a drumbeat down the stairs. Their song - no, a war chant- echoed out clearly as they dispersed out into the night in search of PEIP.

It was like it finally clicked in Melissa’s brain and she began to genuinely panic. Her mouth hung open but she knew she couldn’t make a sound. She managed to pry Schauffer’s arm away from her chest long enough to get herself into a more defensive position. 

“Stay still!” She snapped, the sound of Melissa moving on the fire escape amplified by her stress. “Just stay put.” 

Melissa tucked her head under Schauffer’s hand, her fingers clinging onto her jumper. 

Schauffer’s own knuckles were tight around her tranq, her fingers were going numb. If she was breathing, she wasn’t aware of it. Every sense was focused on Melissa in her arms until all noise faded. 

“It’s okay now,” Melissa whispered. “They’re all gone.” 

“Miss Faith,” she tapped Melissa twice on the back and she pulled back. It wasn’t until then she realised Melissa wasn’t hiding at all, she was covering up the colonel. 

“They’re coming for you. We should move quickly. You were right, I really should’ve listened when you said no apartment.” 

Schauffer felt her core loosen up, her head fell back against the wall and she let out a sign of relief. “Melissa. I’m prepared to die for this job don’t you know? Don’t go,” she gestured with her hand, vocalising a small noise, “protecting me. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of the both of us.”

“I am too,” Melissa scoffed, crossing her arms. She was giving a thousand mile stare through the gaps of the fire escape. “I’m not helpless, I’m not an idiot.”

Schauffer did have some immediate objections but kept her mouth shut. “I never said you were.”

“Two weeks,” Melissa said. “I wasn’t infected for two weeks.” 

A million thoughts flew through Schauffer’s mind at once. “What do you mean, Faith?” 

“You guys at PEIP think everyone was taken out in the first twenty four hours except Paul’s friend. But not me!” Melissa shook her head, her hands like talons around the bars of the fire escape. “I am not helpless. I can help you.”

“Melissa, I- you-“ she just shook her head. What on earth could she say to that? “I’m glad to be working with you,” she took her hand from her lap to shake it. “But let’s keep it safe, okay? We’ll get your bat and then we’re out of here.” 

Melissa nodded. “Okay, let’s go!” She stood up, her hands on her hips. “Let’s uh!” 

Schauffer, Who was yet to stand up, saw all the colour drain from Melissa’s face. Her jaw dropped and her eyes met someone else’s. 

The footsteps in the hallway padded over to the window and Schauffer prepped her tranquilliser, shifting into a position where she could get up easier if she needed. 

“Paul?” The name came out like a judge giving a death sentence. 

“Melissa?” Paul pressed his fingers to the glass. “What’re you doing here! I’ve been looking all over for you! Why’re you standing outside?” 

“Oh y-you know. The whole gang was here, but it was pretty packed inside so I just came out here,” she nodded. “You know?” 

“Melissa! Come inside,” he reached for the doorknob to the fire escape but Melissa moved in one stride to stand in front of it.

“I’m actually pretty busy right now. Gotta look for those PEIP guys. I’ll catch up with you later?” She fiddled with her glasses as an excuse to have her hand hover over her eyes. “But you keep an eye on-on her,” she made her gesture wide to cover up the slight shake in her hands. She pointed in at Emma. 

“Wait, your cat, do you have your cat with you?” 

“Yep! We are all together and we’ve got to go Paul. I’m sorry buddy, I’ll catch you around.” 

“Wait! Melissa, come inside! I want to see you. Where did you go? Everything’s been going wrong and I’m worried! Emma’s not well!” He spoke in musical intonations but he no longer rhymed. 

“Oh, I come inside?” She looked down at Schauffer.

Schauffer balled up her hand in a signal that meant to everyone else in PEIP ‘I understand’ but Melissa was not in PEIP. 

‘Punch him?’ She mouthed. 

She held back a frustrated groan, jerking her head at the door instead to give her permission to enter. 

“Keep your head down,” she waved a hand in front of her eyes to remind Melissa not to give away her identity. 

Melissa opened the fire escape door and stepped into the hallway. 

Paul mumbled something to her before bringing forth Emma. 

“Oh yep. Something’s wrong here!” Melissa pushed more intonation into her voice to blend in. “She’s twitching. She’s shakin’.”

Schauffer squinted at that slant rhyme, wondering if it would be worth investing in music lessons for Melissa. 

She turned onto her knees, peering up in through the window. 

She couldn’t tell what was wrong with Emma but it was something. 

She was shaking and pale like the infection in her body was weak enough for her immune system to try to fight off. 

“And there are others like her, too. I don’t know what’s going on at all!” 

Emma was standing on her own feet but if Paul wasn’t holding her up by the shoulders she didn’t think she would be able to stand. 

“What do you think is wrong?”

“Well it’s that darn PEIP,” she clicked her fingers and swung her hand. “With their darn little operation. They’re kidnaping our brethren!”

Once again, an odd word choice Schauffer thought. Melissa must be terrified right now though, so it would be the last thing on her mind. 

“They’re tearing us apart from the inside out! It’s like they’re cutting off little chunks of our big, mega brain.” Melissa was visibly shaking now. 

“Oh, Melissa! You aren’t bad too, are you?” He put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her but it had the opposite effect.   
“You know, it’s funny. I can’t hear you or feel you in my head.”

“Really!? That is funny!” Melissa spoke a little louder than normal. “Because I can feel you clear as day! Really!” She patted a hand down on his shoulder and gave one sharp, noisy laugh.

As Melissa continued on with her excuses Schauffer adjusted herself to get a better look at Emma. 

Her skin was a pale, icy blue around her dark eyes.  
As a field agent, she was thrilled at the idea. The lab would love to observe and develop a theories and drug tests and come up with a conclusion.   
An illness within an infection! The doctors would go crazy for it.   
She would be easy to collect. If she could separate her from Paul and get a clean tranq shot she would be easier than anything to carry off the island. 

“It’s okay, we’ll be fine.” Paul’s voice snapped her out of her trance. “As a family, we’re strong! Emma, you know Emma, she’s just sick and in a day or two she’ll be better!” 

“Oh, I’m sure of it,” Melissa nodded. “And if not, we’ll just come a-swinging at PEIP, right? Those motherfuckers.” 

Paul’s jaw hung open. “That’s new from you.”

“Picked it up from Ted, it’s family stuff. Hivemind business. Now! I have to get moving!”

“Where to?” Paul’s hands reached out to her shoulder but she darted back a step. 

“To my apartment to get my bat because I’m going to go play softball with my team!” She laughed, happy to have come up with a reasonable answer. “Bye!” She put an arm on the corner of the wall to swing around the corner down the hallway.

“It’s gonna be okay, Emma.” Paul sighed, rubbing her shoulders. 

“I’m cold,” Emma’s teeth were chattering. “My head’s splitting.” 

“I know. We can all feel your pain. We’re all out their looking for PEIP right now. You know, our new brother Jeffery was with PEIP and he was a sergeant! And he shared with us that they think they have some sort of reversal injection,” he scoffed. 

“Hey! I’m back.” Melissa raced back around the corner, her bat prepped above her shoulder already. 

“Hey Melissa, can I ask you something before you go?” 

“Yeah, sure,” she nodded as her teeth gritted together. She began to back towards the door. 

“Why are you going to play softball?” He slowly let Emma down to the ground to rest, stepping over her towards Melissa.

“Because I love softball?” She responded quickly so she didn’t alert his suspicion. 

“Yeah?” He walked slowly across the room towards her. “That’s what you want?” 

“That’s what me and my team wants, yeah!”

“Melissa,” his voice took in a different tone, it was sinister. 

Schauffer readied her tranq, getting a better, clear angle of Paul.

“Paul, you’re freaking me out!” Melissa snapped. “Tell me what you’re saying! Yes, my team and I want to play softball, yes, I like softball, love it, that’s who I am!”

Schauffer clenched her teeth, wishing she could get Melissa to keep her wits about her. She was arousing his suspicion. 

“Melissa,” he was singing now, his voice rising almost operatically. 

“Paul!” She shouted back, oblivious to to the threat. “Yes! I want to play softball, I’m a lesbian! The only thing I want more is a girlfriend!” She didn’t swing out her arms, they stayed glued to her bat which was raising steadily above her heard. 

“We want to find PEIP!” Paul corrected her. “You aren’t part of the family! I can’t feel you and the Hive runs deep!” He held his hands out towards her. 

“Melissa, duck!” Schauffer called, getting to her feet and stumbling through the doorway with her tranq aimed at Paul. 

There was recognition in his eyes for only a second before he shoved Melissa out of the way and raked across the room towards her at such a startling speed that the colonel didn’t have time to react. 

By the time her finger pulled the trigger his hand was on her wrist, veering the tranq off its aim. 

She pressed her palm up against his shoulder to push him back but he didn’t budge. He didn’t let go of her wrist, pushing it back with the intention to break it. 

She swung out her leg to catch his but it did nothing. She let her body follow through with his motion, allowing him to throw her against the wall with a crash so her arm wasn’t ripped off. 

She truly didn’t think she’d get the same mercy as the sergeant. There was death in Paul’s eyes. 

He opened his mouth but the note didn’t have time to come out before his whole body collapsed to the floor. 

“Are you okay?” Melissa panted, dropping her bat to the floor. 

“Oh you weren’t kidding about your swing.” Schauffer brushed off and repressed that small trauma very quickly just as PEIP had taught her to, but her heart was still racing.   
“You weren’t playing it very cool back there, Melissa,” she informed her of the fact she surely already knew. 

“Hey, when I said I survived on my own I can assure you it had nothing to do with my wits and everything to do with my softball bat!” She defended herself. “What now?” She knelt down besides Paul. She didn’t want to touch him but Schauffer could see part of her aching. Her fingers skimmed lightly over his cheekbones before finding their way to his pulse.

“The Infected don’t have a pulse,” Schauffer helped Melissa up. “We have to get off this island now. This is bigger than I thought.”   
She cursed herself, under any other circumstances she could’ve brought both Paul and Emma back to the lab but it was only her, and she couldn’t make the two trips to carry them both. 

“Come on. Let’s get moving.” She gestured Melissa over to the fire escape door.

“We’re just gonna leave them here?” She asked, stepping over Paul. 

“We can’t bring them back to the lab yet. They’re too dangerous. I have a hypothesis, if the Hive truly does function as one brain we can treat it like so. If we continue reforming civilians we can prune the synapses of the Hivemind. And even better, those neural pathways will undergo a long term depression and-“

“Pffft, long term depression? Tell me about it!” She raised her hand for a high five Schauffer did not give her. 

“No, not depression like that - it’s the long lasting lack of use that causes the brain to remove old information. Every time we reform a citizen the Hive loses that chunk of information, and that body of strength and energy, if I’m right, the Hive will undo itself!”

“Oh, that’s cool. That sounds pretty threatening, has that got anything to do with what’s going on outside?” Melissa pointed an oddly calm finger out the window. 

Down below the war chant was growing louder and louder, closer and closer. 

In the street lamps she could see them parading across the road, honing in on one point of action. 

They had found her. 

“Mother of christ,” Schauffer strapped her tranq to her belt. She couldn’t take them all out like that. “That’s no good.”

“Oh, ya think?” Melissa huffed, her tone a bit sarcastic. “Maybe they’re just patrolling. Maybe they don’t know we’re in here.” She pressed her face up against the window. “I mean, we knocked Paul out pretty good.

“No, they know,” she picked up Melissa’s bat, tossing it to her. She turned to the girl smirking up at them from the floor.   
“Because we forgot about Emma.”


	9. Tango

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Schauffer and Melissa find themselves in a bit of trouble

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> u know what maybe the real power couple the title refers to isn’t Emma and Paul it’s schauffer and Melissa

“Colonel, so, do you have uh, a way to fix this?” Melissa watched the crowd rioting below, so frightened she was almost placid. 

Schauffer had been the one to break safety protocol going out without her task force, and there had always been heavy consequences for doing so.   
She kept her mouth shut so her brain could work faster, if they weren’t off the island within the hour it was not going to end cleanly.

The first steps taken onto the fire escape rang out loud and clear.   
At the same time, a few floors down the sliding glass doors to the apartment were shattered, and the song became less muffled.

Emma was content with the damage she had done and had let her illness take her, slipping off into a half-sleep by Paul’s side, taking his hand in hers. 

“You’re a bastard, Perkins,” Schauffer fixed her helmet and cocked her gun. 

“Holy shit, are you!?” Melissa bolted back to her side to grab her wrist. 

“I’m not going to shoot them, I’m just considering it,” she admitted. It would be a waste of the Sergeant’s life to take theirs.” How could two people cause so much trouble?” She put her boot on Emma’s shoulder, jostling her. 

Her frame had lost a lot of its muscle and weight. Her hair no longer had a shine to it and her skin was slightly sunken around her cheekbones. She was so light Schauffer could nearly roll her over. 

“We have to get out of here, colonel,” she reminded her.

The fire escape was rattling now as the Infected marched onwards, reaching the first flight.

“Well we can’t take the fire escape and we can’t go through the entrance.” She had to shout to be heard over the Hive. 

“There’s roof access on the fifth floor!” Melissa gasped. “Will that help?” She pointed up the stairs.

Schauffer nodded, grabbing her wrist to race her up the stairs. She ran surprisingly fast, too.

She shouldered open the roof access door and barricaded it with Melissa’s metal bat. 

“Shhh,” she guided Melissa with a hand on her shoulder behind the staircase shelter and slowly got her to kneel down.   
“Stay still. Don’t make a noise,” she held a finger to her lips.

Melissa nodded, a great look of trust on her face, but Schauffer didn’t really have a plan. 

If it weren’t for the innocent girl along with her, she would’ve gone in, gun blazing until she was inevitably torn apart. She was prepared and willing to die in her line of work, but she wouldn’t dare let Melissa get hurt. 

She crept back over to the edge of the rooftop to keep an eye on the Infected who were swarming around like ants downstairs. 

If she stretched far enough she could see back in through the windows. They had congregated around Emma and Paul and they were all gesticulating and shouting loudly. Good old Hive anger.   
There were several black uniforms at the front of the pack, including McNamara and the Sergeant, who were trying to get Paul and Emma up. 

The helicopter wasn’t too far away, but they would have to sneak there, they couldn’t make the run no matter how fast the both of them were. 

She drew open the magazine of her gun, counting the bullets before taking one out. 

She waited a moment longer for the rhythm of their chant to come to its slowest point before hurling the bullet as far as she could. 

She didn’t hear it land, but the Infected around the outside of the building did. 

A group of ten of them swivelled their heads around, breaking off from the song to start their on rhyme as they departed from the group to chase down the noise. 

She bit her tongue. Ten down off the count of the entirety of Hatchetfield was nothing. 

The building was too high to jump from, and the fire escape was full, and most definitely over its weight limit. It was rocking and swaying with every footstep as more and more people tried to cram their way into the building. 

The part of her that was sick and tired of this whole operation was a bit more sadistic: the amount of people in that building was surely a severe fire hazard. 

The rusty iron was screeching beneath their weight, bucking at the screws that held it to the wall. 

She shot a glance behind her. 

Melissa was still waiting where she was told, her lips shut but her hands shaky. 

Schauffer gave her a thumbs up, hoping that would comfort her enough for now.   
She gestured for Melissa to block her ears and she obeyed. 

Schauffer readjusted herself, one foot up on the bannister. 

The Infected reached the fourth level, and then the fifth, and then the first hand landed on the rungs to the roof.

She inhaled one deep breath to steady the slight shake of her body. Just wait a moment longer. 

“You had it coming, you godless bastards.” 

The Infected has enough time to look up before she moved.

The fire escape didn’t stand a chance. All it took was a shove from the heel of her boot and the screws on the ladder came right out. 

With the resisting scream of iron, the last of the screws let go. 

The fire escape stayed still for only a second more before toppling under its weight, collapsing down out onto the street with half the town on it. 

It shook the ground and the fire escape practically exploded. Bits of metal shot off and scattered down the street.  
A platform flew into a fire hydrant across the street and the whole top exploded, jetting water up into the air. 

The bodies in the street were paralysed, completely still on the floor. 

Some of them looked fine - a few cuts oozing out a thick neon blue liquid here and there, but those caught at the bottom were unprepared.

Limbs severed by iron and grating lay limp besides their owners, viscous blood drooling out of their shoulders and thighs in an attempt to rebuild the sinew and muscles and reattach skin. 

She didn’t have free time to watch the Hive pull itself back together. 

She raced back to the girl’s side. 

Her hands were still pressed to her ears, her unblinking eyes burning holes in the floor. “What was that sound?” She didn’t lift her hands from her head. 

“I have an idea,” she undid her tactical vest so she could pull off her sweater. “You’re going to have to ditch the blazer, Faith.” 

“Huh?” Her jaw hung slack but she did as she was told despite the way her fingers shaking too much to undo her buttons. 

“Here, put this on.” 

“Aren’t they looking for people in PEIP uniforms?” Melissa questioned, her words muffled as she burrowed into Schauffer’s jumper. 

“Not quite,” She shook her head as she buckled her vest back on. “Earlier this month when the infection started to spread, a large portion of my General’s platoon was Infected, and they still wear their uniforms. They’re looking for signs of those who aren’t part of the Hive.” 

“So this will help us?” 

The song had come to a standstill outside, only remnants of the rhythm were being passed through the air as everyone tried to clamber back outside to find out what had happened to their comrades. 

Schauffer fixed Melissa’s helmet and pulled down the visor onto her eyes. “Ready?”

Melissa nodded, taking Schauffer’s wrist for confidence. 

Schauffer strapped on her own helmet and helped Melissa stand up. 

The sweater was big on her, and the colour of her skirt stood out far too much, but with the addition of her helmet she could pass well enough. 

Schauffer took Melissa’s bat from where it was barricading the door and strapped it to the bands of her vest.   
She kept her hands on the doorknob before she was ready to open it.   
“I need you to walk like I’m going to, okay? Do you have any history in dance?” 

“I did ballet for a year when I was six?”

Schauffer exhaled mid-breath. That wasn’t really much help. 

“But I’m a fast leaner!” 

“Okay. Good. And watch your breathing, they’ll notice if you panic.” 

A distress sound rose from her throat but she silenced herself just as quickly. 

Schauffer had been through courses and courses of stealth training but Melissa was just Melissa. 

“You’re going to have to fit in. You’ll get the hang of marching easily enough but when we wheel you’ll have to check T away, okay?”

“Check T what?”

“It’s how you move your feet when you’re turning.” She demonstrated quickly.

“That’s some footwork,” Melissa winced. “Check, T, away,” she repeated it under her breath to burn it into her memory, copying her. 

“We’re going to go and blend in with the other PEIP members and ride out that way through the doors, okay?” 

Melissa gulped and nodded. 

“Just keep your back straight and copy me.” She had to glare at the girl to warn her. She couldn’t have Melissa thinking she was invincible, she had to be prepared for the very real risk of being recognised. 

Melissa seemed to understand this and bowed her head, straightening her back and levelling her chin. 

“You cannot stand out. If you do anything out of the ordinary they’ll feel you out.”  
Partially confident that Melissa would be fine to move on, she opened the door. 

There was no one on the staircase down to the fifth floor, she took the chance to get Melissa into the swing. 

It was the simplest march she could get a rhythm into.   
She rose her knees and swung the opposite arm to her chest.   
A glance backwards confirmed Melissa knew what she was doing. 

The first scatters of Infected in the hallways were angry, pounding their fists on the windows and the walls. 

There was enough room to pass through without arousing any suspicion, and Melissa’s breathing was still steady. 

But there were problems by the fourth floor. The hall was packed, and they couldn’t move through without pushing.   
And it was almost critical they didn’t so much as brush against each other. The Hive was trademarked in its perfection of communication, and any sort of bump or shove was a dead giveaway. Emphasis on dead. 

When they couldn’t walk any further, she returned to her at-ease position, hoping Melissa copied her. 

As of now, there were lots of things for the Hive to be angry at.

Their missing counterparts, PEIP or Paul and Emma’s case, but she had a feeling it probably had something to do with the fact she had just pushed about two or three hundred of them off the building. 

Mentally, she nodded. That was a fair reason to be angry. 

After a moment, there was a turnabout of footsteps and the floors shook as the Hive hurried out to rescue their other half. 

She took up the rear, marching down behind a man in a suit and tie. 

Easy, slowly, they got down to the third floor. 

The rest of the Hive flowed around them as they came to Emma and Paul, where the other ex-PEIP members were standing guard. 

She mirrored their stance, letting Melissa remain behind her. 

General McNamara was hovering by Paul, the rest of his platoon watching silently.

Comforted by the fact her visor hid where her eyes were looking she glanced down at Emma only to find her looking right back. 

Her eyes were only slits, but she had signalled Schauffer from the crowd.  
She did stand out quite clearly to anyone who had any wink of individuality or uniqueness left in them. Fortunately, that only seemed to be Emma, and she was too unwell to even open her mouth. 

Without McNamara even giving a command, four of the soldiers leant down to collect Paul and Emma, carrying them between each other like gurneys.   
The remaining field workers fell into line. 

Schauffer and Melissa took up the end, marching on with the other PEIP members, but she didn’t know where they were headed. 

She recognised the bodies of all the men in line. She had eaten lunch besides the soldier in front of her on the day he was sent out to deal with the Infection. 

She wanted to turn around, McNamara hadn’t come with them. Where was he? 

She cursed in her head as she realised he had taken up the rear of the line. 

Schauffer could hear the minute change behind her in Melissa’s breathing. It quickened ever so slightly, with the General only a foot or so away from her. 

She wanted to give her some sort of signal that everything was still okay, it was all going perfect so far in fact, but any out of place movement would stand out like blood on snow. 

They marched to the end of the hall, Schauffer made the proper 90 degree turn, check, T, away. It was second nature for her, she was just worried about her companion and there was no way to turn around and check on her. 

She listened out for the timing of her footsteps. 

Melissa sounded like she made the turn properly, there was the first movement of her heels, the turn, and then... the final step. Only a half-second out of timing 

She held her breath, waiting for McNamara to notice, but nothing came of it. 

As they entered the second floor, she was taken aback by the smell of something rotting. It was bitter and rancid and burnt her nostrils. 

It took all her strength and training to remain in position and ignore what had happened on this level, the second floor.

The carpet still squelched as her boots trod over it, small bubbles of liquid rising through. 

At the end of the hall, the wall was still dented from where her helmet had hit the plaster. Not a single thing had changed.

The blood was still everywhere. It was dried a disgusting shade of brown but that wouldn’t fool Melissa. 

She heard Melissa step into the bloody patch and it bubbles up differently under her flats. 

She rolled her eyes so far to the side they hurt, and twitching her head ever so slightly she could see Melissa’s face.

It was blank with fear, and the blood seeping through her shoes didn’t seem to help. Her chest was rising and falling quicker. Her fingernails were digging into the palms of her hands. Her knees had locked and weren’t marching as they should have. 

She was about to crack, Schauffer had seen that face before.

Her head was twitching side to side to take in the spectacle, and it was worse than Schauffer herself remembered. 

There were drag marks all across the carpet, and especially dark stains splattered throughout as if they had been tossing his body like some sort of beach ball. Bloody handprints lined the bottom of the wall were the sergeant would have been able to reach in his last moments.   
The teeth were still on the floor, the chunks of hair, the shreds of fabric. 

She saw Melissa trying desperately to force down whatever had risen in her throat. A sickly sweat had oiled up her skin.

She only had to hold on for ten more seconds. They were nearly out of there now.

And that’s when Schauffer crashed into the soldier in front of her.   
She was so worried about Melissa she had dropped her timing. 

Both McNamara and the soldier in front of her stared at her with unnaturally wide grins, their eyes masked by their visors. 

McNamara barked, one hand sending the soldier after the rest of the platoon.

She reached for her tranq but McNamara grabbed her wrist and knocked it from her grasp. 

She countered with a swing at his elbow, separating him from her. 

She grabbed Melissa’s collar to yank the girl behind her. “General!” She took her visor off, she wanted him to know who she was. 

“Colonel!” He exclaimed, surprised. “Just who we were looking for.” He didn’t make any big move right away, only marching a few steps forward to push Schauffer back. 

But she was just as trained as him, she didn’t pale under the fear and besides a cautionary step back remained rooted to her spot. “Well you’ve found me.” 

One hand attempted to grab her vest but she darted aside. 

“A leader even in death, are you? You wouldn’t be keen to head back to HQ with me, would you?” She huffed, scanning him for any immediate threat. 

“I think it should be the other way around,” he smirked. “Why not you and your friend join us, see? A lot better than remaining a poor colonel I’m sure you’ll agree. How long has it been since you’ve moved up a rank? Now who is under that visor?” He tried to grab Melissa but the colonel smacked his hand out of the air before he could lay a hand on her. 

“That’s none of your concern! You can’t touch her without getting through me.” 

Melissa looked too sick to care. She had one hand over her mouth and was leaning against the wall to take her eyes off the blood.

“And when have I taken orders from you, colonel?” He caught her wrist this time, pulling her in. “It’s not a problem. I’ll find out soon enough.”   
She felt his other hand land on her side as his other slipped from her wrist to entwine their fingers. 

Life or death situation or not, the sudden intimacy from a man four ranks above her was a shock to her system.   
While her guard was down he swung her to the side and her hand reached for his shoulder to steady herself, and that’s what it was - a tango.

Music burst to life around her, and Melissa’s head whipped around to try and find the source of the music. 

Bandoneon, bass, piano, castanets.   
It was colourful and bright and she had never heard music like that.  
There was no music at headquarters, sound cues were so vital in the field that the only singing she had heard recently, for the past two decades in fact, were the haunted war cries of the angry Infected.  
But this was different, this was lively and joyous and she wanted to dance with him. 

McNamara’s blue eyes flashed with his grin and they turned in their circle. 

The fast guitar clambered for attention among the other instruments and as the bar ended he let go of her back, letting her pull him with her as she stumbled backwards, adding a new momentum to their choreography and upping the pace of the instruments.

The piano crescendoed and an accompanying violin raised its volume jarringly. 

Instead of taking her hand to spin her into a dip he twisted her arm behind her back and stuck out a leg to trip her into the lunge, catching her by the collar before her head could hit the floor. 

It was thrilling. This was the newest form of combat she had ever partaken in and it made her blood rush. His toothed smile was contagious, but for a completely different reason. 

A lump moved up his throat and blue slime foamed out from behind his teeth as he leaned in to infect her. 

She grabbed her gun from her vest and almost to tease him, twirled it around with her finger on the trigger guard before letting it set in her hand. 

“Oh, General,” she made sure he was looking when she pulled the trigger. 

The bullet lodged into his shoulder and he dropped her, lumbering back as he tried to compute what she had just done. 

The one charming music around her grew disorientated, the saxophone going out of range and the piano untuned. The violin took priority among the ensemble, squeaking out choked notes.

“Melissa, come on!” She pushed herself back up, Adrenalin still running through her.

The girl had been rendered useless without her bat but the second Schauffer returned it to her she lifted it and swung it into the back of Mcnamara’s head.

The man always assumed himself too invincible for a helmet. She didn’t suppose an overly eager secretary with a baseball bat could knock him out so easily, or even a threat he should consider.

The music came to a halt the second he hit the floor. 

“You’re legendary, Melissa,” Schauffer grinned, wiping blue spittle off her cheek.   
“So the music just plays from nowhere?” She asked, bouncing on her heels and raring to go. 

Melissa nodded, she wasn’t as enthusiastic. “We have to get out of here,” she still looked sick from the blood scene. 

“Affirmative, Faith.” She took the girl’s wrist again and took off down the stairs, hopping through the smashed glass doors with ease. 

The Hive had gathered around the fire escape mess, attempting to aid their friends. It left a clear route for the helicopter. 

“Come on! We’re good to go! Let’s get out of here!” Melissa tried to hurry her, taking her wrist back so she could run ahead of the colonel.   
“The Hive is gonna feel that soon and I don’t wanna stick around for when it does!” 

It was almost too good to be true. The streets were so empty with the town by Melissa’s apartment. 

“Melissa, slow down!” She shouted, and the girl acquiesced. “We’re home free, don’t waste your energy, you might still need it.” 

She waited for Schauffer to catch up, her feet still treading anxiously. 

“You did really great back there, Melissa,” she clapped her on the shoulder. “If you’re good enough to keep up with the colonel of PEIP, you could keep up with any of us.”

“You did good back there too,” she nodded her whole head to cope with the restless anxiety in her. She wanted to run but Schauffer didn’t need to. “It was cool how you took out that man. You got him right in the shoulder. You should have a cool catchphrase.” 

“A catchphrase?”

“Yeah. For when you take someone out. Like, Sayonara asshole, or adios bastard.”

“I’ll keep that in mind for next time, Melissa,” she stifled a laugh. 

“And if I was colonel, I’d have a sword too.”

“Oh, I do have a sword,” she nodded. She usually took offence to people telling her how to do her job, but this was completely harmless. 

“You do!?” 

“Everyone above the warren officer does, Melissa. We only bring them out for presentations,” she explained. 

Melissa was star struck. “So you know how to sword fight!?”

“Aside from hand to hand combat that was one of my favourite courses matter of fact,” she shrugged it off nonchalantly, glad someone was taking interest in her work.

“What! Colonel Schauffer, you’re the coolest person I have ever met!”

She was half way through a laugh when her comm buzzed on her shoulder.   
“Colonel Schauffer? Do you read? Where are you?” 

She sighed, holding up a hand to silence Melissa. “In the zone of action, who am I speaking to?” 

“Captain Hurley. What are you-“

“Put Taylor from the lab on for me,” she requested. 

“Colonel, you need to be back at base right now!”

“Captain, put Taylor from the lab on for me,” she repeated. “I’m your colonel and that’s an order.” 

The captain groaned and winced but there was static of the call being patched through and soon Taylor’s gasp was on the other end.  
“Did you actually go to Hatchetfield!?” 

“Does the singing in the distance tell you anything else? Now what’s the problem?”

There were calls in the background of people throwing questions at Taylor, trying to get them to ask the colonel. “We’re going to send a task force over to collect you. Are you on your own?”

“Don’t send a task force.”

“There’s a situation over at HQ, Colonel. One of the participants is missing and-“

“Miss Faith is completely fine, rest assured.”

“She’s with you!? You brought her with you!?”

Melissa gave an apologetic smile, nodding her head guiltily. “Hi, Taylor.”

“I didn’t so much bring her as she invited herself, but she’s with me. We’re returning now. Is that all?”

“We’re sending a helicopter.” 

“Taylor, I need you to cancel that helicopter.” 

There was a fuss on the other end of Taylor’s superiors trying to get the comm off them. 

“Colonel, no one back here is very happy with your choices,” they winced, a regretful and cautious messenger. 

“Well I’m the colonel, and I make these choices. And I’m telling you, if a task force comes out here they are going to get ripped to shreds. Don’t send a task force. If you choose to follow any one order let it be that one. That is a command I can’t have you refute if PEIP cares about their task force.”

“When have these guys ever cared about their forces!? Field workers are about as disposable as plastic gloves, colonel! Everyone here is pissed, fully! It’s like a war over here!” 

“Well I’m the colonel am I not? Tell them to settle down, and its an order. I’ll explain it all when I get back.” 

Taylor‘s laugh was harsh yet worried. “Well it’s not us you’re exposing it to, it’s the Brigadier. She’s come to talk to you.”

“Oh my god!” Melissa suddenly brought a hand to her mouth, pushing Schauffer up against the wall and crouching down. 

Schauffer did the same, peering over her shoulder. She put a hand over the comm to stop the static.

The silhouettes of two people were loitering by the helicopter, sitting in the seats like they owned it. 

“Those are my co workers!” She gasped, pointing at them. “Charlotte and Ted!”

“Well at least you know them,” Schauffer crouched down further. McNamara had taken her tranq, and she wasn’t going to shoot Melissa’s co workers right in front of her. 

“Colonel, have we caught you at a bad time? Do you want me to tell the Brigadier to wait?” Taylor’s voice was rough and sarcastic, impatient with the voices snapping at her from both ends of the mic.

The static of the comm echoed through the empty street, and the two people in the helicopter perked up, their eyes meeting with the colonel.

“Actually, you might have to.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone interprets that dance scene as romantic I’m going to snap


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I bet character development works way better when u don’t post chapters whole months apart huh zoya

The figures stepped out from the helicopter, moving in sync quickly down the street towards their hiding place. 

Schauffer reaches for her tranq, glaring at the two figures. “Melissa, stay behind me.”

“I thought you didn’t have any extra containment units?” Melissa grabbed onto Schauffer’s tactical vest, her bat in one hand. 

Schauffer huffed. “Well if the Brigadier is back at HQ then I’d better bring back something to show. I broke the rules coming out here.” Schauffer looked down at her belt when her hand couldn’t find the tranq, but it wasn’t there. She whipped around to check the other side of her belt, opening up the pockets on her vest and searching through her pants pockets. But the tranq wasn’t there.   
“Melissa, did you take-?” Her sentence broke off and she grabbed Melissa’s wrist to walk her backwards, away from the approaching figures. 

“It must have fallen off somewhere at the apartments!” 

Schauffer rolled up her sleeves. That made sense. She was going to have to do this the good old fashioned way. “How well do you know these two?” 

“Really well!” Melissa clung to Schauffer as her coworkers grew closer. “Charlotte was one of my closest friends! And I’ve known Ted for ages!”

“Well enough to have problems giving me a hand here?” She double checked to ensure she still had her gun. 

Melissa went pale in the face but she nodded. “What do I have to do? Are you gonna shoot them?!”

“No, I’m going to hold them and I need you to swing like your life depends on it, okay?” 

Melissa’s reply was a flustered, stammering ‘okay!’ And she raised her bat up to give it a test swing. 

“Stay back!” She gave a quick warning to Melissa before pressing her boots to the concrete and arching her back down to get the perfect take off, sprinting and launching herself shoulder-first into Ted’s front. 

She must have successfully knocked the air from his lungs because his singing stopped as the two of them crashed into the concrete. 

He had broken her fall, but Ted had gotten the worst of it. When his head slammed against the concrete he seemed to have blacked out. 

She didn’t expect that to happen so easily, so when she went to stand back up she was almost a little too shocked to notice Charlotte coming at her. 

The Infected woman had let out a raging belt at the sight of the attack, sustaining it for so long that Schauffer was almost impressed. 

But as the woman tried to grab at her vest she took her by the wrist to yank her in front of her. 

“Is he okay?” She heard Melissa squeal somewhere behind her. 

“Hold on, Melissa!” Schauffer growled, trying to concentrate on the best way to deal with Charlotte. 

And that was when Ted got back up, she felt his rough hand grab onto her boot and with the other she stomped down hard enough on the tendon of his wrist for him to let go. She spun out of the way as Charlotte and Ted seemed to gather themselves back up. 

“Come on, Melissa, run!” She called out to the girl who was somewhere on the other side of Ted and Charlotte. But when she didn’t get an immediate response Schauffer felt her usually steady heart rate rocket. She bit down on her lip and darted back over, swerving around the two in search of Melissa. 

She was just a little further back down the road, shaking at the knees and her back slumped with horror. “I-I’m coming!” Her throat must have been to dry to project anything, and what was supposed to be a call only came out as a murmur. 

“Come on. We need to get closer to the helicopter!” She gave her a strong pat on the back to tell her she had to keep moving and fortunately the girl took off.

They tried to get back around but Ted and Charlotte had separated to try and block off the road, some sort of roaring, threatening harmony coming out.   
“You can’t run or hide, ‘cause our family is all ‘round, so why not stick around for a ride?” 

“This way! Now!” She pushed Melissa past them, managing to duck under the swing of their arms. She ducked low enough to throw herself off balance, and she rolled her ankle as she stood back up. 

“We’d play nice if we had the choice, but unfortunately our hands are tied.” They turned around to chase after the two.

She didn’t know who to go for first. For such a frail looking woman Charlotte had no qualms with any level of violence it seemed, her teeth were bared in a violent, crazy grin. She looked much more threatening than Ted. 

She heard Melissa let out a scream as Charlotte managed to snag her by the collar of Schauffer’s oversized jumper she was still wearing. “So why not give it a spin, and we’ll all be akin, then all your tears with be dried.” Charlotte’s grabbed Melissa’s wrist, twirling her and pinning her arm behind her back. 

Ted ganged up on the girl’s vulnerability, changing his course to storm towards her and push Melissa to the ground, her bat clattering down by her side. 

“Hey, bastards! Leave her out of this!” Her rank was already on the line with the Brigadier back at the office, but she would lose it all together if she let a civilian under her watch come into harm. 

Before she actually had time to come up with a logical, tactical response she found herself sprinting towards the two, her fist raised prematurely to swing it into Charlotte’s face the second she was close enough.

But Ted swooped in to take the hit on her behalf, blocking it with his shoulder as his hand snaked out to grab her arm. 

She retaliated by catching his wrist in both hands and driving her knee up into his ribs. He stumbled back like he could feel pain. Not even a second after letting go she turned on her heels to strike a kick at Charlotte. 

The blow knocked her far enough away from Melissa for the colonel to help the girl up off the floor and dust her down for injuries. “Are you good?”

“I’m okay!” Her voice even sounded a little bruise, and she tried to fix her glasses to see through the new-found cracks. “I’m okay,” she repeated a little firmer as she picked up her bat. 

She needed to find a way to separate Ted and Charlotte somehow. They were already closing back in on the two. “Melissa do you trust me?” She barked.

“What? Yes colonel!” 

“Then run for the helicopter!” 

“But I’ve got the bat!” She gasped, feet rooted to the ground. 

“Go!” She ordered. 

She was uncertain, but she had confidence in the colonel. She clutched her bat to her side so she could bolt off.

Charlotte lost interest in the colonel when she spotted much easier prey in the form of Melissa. 

She had seen the girl run before, and she knew she could get there before Charlotte. It was just a matter of if the colonel could finish up her plans before Melissa was caught. 

With a quick glance over her shoulder to ensure the girl was running, she plunged back into battle with Ted, swinging a blow square at his nose. 

He reached out to wrap a hand around her neck, she countered by chopping at his elbow, forcing him to withdraw his hand. They were both knocked back in the scuffle and when Schauffer tried to check on Melissa again, the man dove into her, intent on trying to strangle and crush her trachea. 

She darted left when his arms shot right. She managed to turn back around to take hold of his wrists. She hoisted him up over her shoulder to slam him right back down to the ground, listening to the sound of something crack as he hit the floor.

The moment he was down and out she took off to chase after Charlotte and Melissa. The rubber in the tracks of her boots squealing on the concrete as they scraped across on each step. She was moving so fast she was almost flying across the road.

Melissa was almost at the helicopter, and Charlotte was closing in. 

She vaulted over the park fence. The wire snagged one of her gloves, yanking her back to the fence. She ditched the glove, watching Melissa clamber up onto the landing skids of the helicopter, trying to haul herself up into the cockpit with Charlotte only one or two metres away. 

Melissa’s foot slipped on the landing skid, her hand clutching around the seatbelt of the pilot’s seat to try and get herself up, one hand still with an iron grip on her bat. 

Schauffer managed to grab Charlotte’s collar right as she closed in on Melissa, yanking her back with a warning growl.  
She pushed her back long enough to help Melissa up into the seat so she could raised her bat and bring it down on the side of Charlotte’s head, knocking her to the floor. 

“What the hell,” Melissa gaped, her voice raising on the last word like even that language was a little strong to her. Her chest was rising and falling, panting as her breathing slowly and steadily returned to normal. 

Schauffer lingered over the collapsed body, stepping back as splatted of blue started to leak from somewhere on her body. “I’d better get these two in the back. You stay put Miss Faith.” 

Melissa bit her lip, not nodding but not shaking her head. 

She leant over to raise Charlotte off the ground, keeping her head down so the girl wouldn’t see the damage she had caused with her bat. She lay the woman over her shoulders so she could step up into the helicopter and rest her body face-down in the small holding chamber in the back. 

“I wonder how my cat is doing,” Melissa mumbled, biting down on her thumb as she risked a glance at Charlotte. 

“I’m sure she’s fine. Stay here while I go get your friend.” She headed back down the eerily quiet road, one hand on her gun for safety. There was a slight limp to her step that was starting to show itself. 

The comm radio on her tactical vest buzzed and a voice crackled through. She glanced down to see why it wasn’t coming through clearly. It looked like it had been cracked in her fall. 

She lifted it up to hold to her mouth to speak. “Comm’s broken,” she started, holding the button down for a second, unsure of if she had more to say. “Two targets apprehended. Civilian unharmed. We’re returning to HQ now.” She hoped her message was carried through.

It must have been, because a series of angry cracked returned once she finished speaking. She couldn’t make out the voice or what they were saying.  
“What!?— — where are—— action? —-—red———you crazy!?” 

She tucked the radio into the pocket of her vest. She was numb to most feelings this far into her career, but as she knelt down to pick Ted up off the floor there was a heaviness to her, and she didn’t have the strength to stand back up. 

She linked her hands around Ted so she could carry him, but her legs didn’t seem to want to work. She let out a sigh, thinking of another way to get him back to the plane. 

But then she felt the weight of the man lift, and saw Melissa smiling back down at her as she grabbed the man around the ankles to lift him up. “Come on, colonel Schauffer. We better get back. I don’t want you to get in any trouble for what I did,” she spoke gently, her head slightly tilted. Her voice lacked any sort of mischief or chaos. It was just tired.

“Oh don’t worry about it. It’s all for me to handle, Miss.” Together, they lifted the tall man back to the helicopter in messy, out of time and limping steps. It was a tedious process, Melissa struggled walking backwards. Schauffer could probably do it on her own much quicker but she liked Melissa’s help.

As they laid him down in the helicopter Melissa stroked both of their heads.  
“Goodnight. Sorry about that,” she apologised. “You’ll feel better soon. Schauffer knows how to fix it,” she kept her voice low like it was a whisper the colonel wasn’t supposed to hear. 

When she was done, she crawled back into the co-pilot seat, pulling on her seatbelt. “I think someone’s trying to talk to you on the radio,” she pointed.

“Ah,” Schauffer leant back in her seat, hesitating to pull on her seatbelt. “I’ll just let it go through.”

“Really?”

“I think I’ve capped out the amount of trouble I can get it,” she mustered up a deep chuckle. “I’ll deal with it when we get back.” 

Melissa nodded. She cast an obvious glance at the steering wheel.

“We’ll leave in a moment, Melissa,” she assured her before she could speak up. “Just in a moment.” She let the silence sink in, she didn’t care where the music had gone to. All that mattered was that for now it was gone.

Melissa cleared her throat, her hands playing with the handle of her bat. “You were really strong back there. I’ve never seen anyone as brave as you.” 

She gave another laugh, but it came easier this time. “Thank you, Melissa. I’m just doing my job.”

“Oh. Well I thought it was pretty cool,” she admitted. “You ran really fast, and you were really strong. I would have died if you weren’t here.” 

“I get it, Melissa. I appreciate that. Thanks.” She pulled her visor down, one hand reaching across to pull Melissa’s down too. 

She pulled it down a little too far because Melissa winded up fiddling with them to get them on her eyes properly. But at least it stopped her with the compliments. And she was too occupied to see any of the blush on Schauffer’s skin.

“Alright. We can get going.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I take so long to update this fic bc I don’t think anyone woke up today & went ‘u know what I want to see? Two of the most minor characters beat the shit out of some fan faves’ but I just wanNa write the last three chapters bc that was all I had in mind when drafting this fic lmao so I gotta power through


	11. Consequences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Schauffer is given the consequences for breaking so many rules.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay just stick with me here I promise there are some dedicated infected Paulkins chapters coming up u just gotta sit through my Melissa Schauffer junk first ((and alSo this is not a ship I’m not paring Melissa w schauffer at all its just a friendship ogmfnjfbf))

Anxious whispers swarmed around Schauffer from the second she was back on the premises.

She parted the sea of too-curious privates and officers in the docking bay, who all drew back into the crowd as she walked through. 

“Melissa, don’t look at them,” the colonel hissed, reaching her hand out behind her to grab the girl and hurry her up. 

“The Brigadier is waiting in your office,” someone finally had the nerve to speak up. 

“Affirmative. Beat it, Private,” she shooed him away with her hand and tried not to let her nerves show through the way she walked. She kept her head up and walked in a straight line to the rhythm of a march. 

“Colonel?” Melissa whispered as they left the docking bay and entered the hallways. 

“I’ll escort you back to the lab. I don’t want any more trouble arising if the Brigadier Savant sees you walking about out of your cell.” She put a hand on Melissa’s collar to turn her the other way. 

“Um, with full respect Colonel. I don’t want to go back there. I want to come and talk to the Brigadier.”

Schauffer gave an amused, impatient laugh. “Oh that won’t help anyone’s case. Back to the lab, Melissa.”

“No, colonel!” She dug her heels in, turning around to face her. “I want to talk to her.“

“That’s a negative, Melissa. Don’t try and play hero here. I’ve broken rules I shouldn’t have and I need to pay the consequences for them. I’m the colonel and I need to set an example,” she pressed her palm to her chest. “I appreciate it. But there’s no need. Brigadier Savant isn’t a nice woman, Melissa. She’s a lot scarier than me.” 

“Isn’t the military a civil service?” Melissa cut her off. “As a civilian aren’t I ranked higher in society? Isn’t that how the military works?” 

“Well technically yes, but that doesn’t apply here,” she was a little stunned honestly. She was under the impression Melissa was clueless about anything past softball and note taking. “But we aren’t just the military, were a highly classified government organisation and-“

“And my taxes pay your salary,” she jabbed a stern finger at Schauffer’s shoulder. “I’m going to talk to the Brigadier.” She took Schauffer’s big, calloused hand in her tiny, manicured one, dragging her the other way. “Let’s go!”

“You don’t know where my office is, I’m not leading you there.” She still let the girl tug at her hand and lead her along, following behind with stubborn, dragging steps. 

“Well I’ll find it if it’s the last thing I do, colonel!” 

“Melissa.”

“I’ll knock on every door in this whole place. I’ll even wait outside and let her talk to you first if you want so badly. But I’m getting a word in with this lady!” She was pretty determined, she even kept pulling as Schauffer stopped in her tracks. 

She let go of Melissa’s hand so she would stop yanking. “So this has nothing to do with me? This is a personal word you want with Savant?” 

Melissa nodded her head up and down with fervour. “I want to talk to her please, Colonel!” 

“Alright, but don’t try any of that ‘civil servant’ logic,” she gave Melissa a small yet warning shove to get her walking again. 

She stopped her by the door before Melissa could walk by it. “You stay right here.” She held her by both shoulders, adjusting her to stand right by the doorway. “And don’t talk to anyone. I don’t know how long this will take.” Was she procrastinating? No. 

“You’re going to be okay, Colonel Schauffer. I mean, you’re the colonel after all!” Melissa offered up a hopeful, respectful smile. “I’ll wait right here and do as you say.” 

“Alright. Good.” Schauffer straightened her tactical vest to try and seem more formal for her meeting with the Brigadier. She let Melissa keep her jumper on. She didn’t want the girl feeling out of place in a hallway full of PEIP soldiers.

Except it did seem that no one was even risking going down the hall to her office right now. 

But it didn’t matter. Melissa could keep the jumper. An out of uniform penalty would be a slap on the wrist compared to whatever else she was about to get.

She wouldn’t keep the Brigadier waiting any longer. She gave Melissa a pat on the shoulder before opening up the door and marching into her own office. 

The Brigadier was sitting at her desk, scanning through all the unopened letters and unsigned paper work she had been holding off. “Colonel Schauffer,” she cleared her throat with a sigh, setting down the papers she was reading through. “At ease, soldier.”

Schauffer crosses her arms behind her back, getting into the correct position. “Brigadier General Savant,” she greeted. 

But once the formalities were out of the way, the Brigadier dropped the politeness and register all together. “I’m going to break this all down Barney style for you, Claire. You’re fucking it up. In the worst way possible. I’d list off how many codes you violated running out their on your own. I’ve heard the whole story. I can barely wrap my head around what happened, is there a brain in your head, colonel? You took a civvy with you! Do you know how ridiculous you must have been?” 

“Yes, Brigadier,” Schauffer nodded, tensing into her position. Her knees locked and her fingernails dug into the skin of her arms. 

“Going our onto the field without your full battle rattle, if you were an officer maybe I could understand that, but you’re a colonel, for god’s sake Schauffer!” 

“Yes, Brigadier.” 

“Somehow though, I’ll give you it, a lot better than the soldiers out there smoking and joking, the god damn powerpoint rangers. This mission is so behind schedule that it’s almost a positive you tried to speed it up. You just had to be a dumbass about it! And what did you bring back to show, Schauffer?” She huffed 

“Brigadier, if I can just have a word,” she coughed.

“I’m inviting you to!” The Brigadier slammed a hand down on her pile of paperwork. 

“I’m not going to bother you with the mental processes it behind it all-“

“It’s funny you’re implying there was one at all,” she scoffed, interrupting her.

“But I believe I’ve gathered some very valuable field information that will be very critical to the mission,” she began to speak a little faster so the Brigadier wouldn’t lose interest. “It’s my hypothesis that as of now, while we’re cutting away members of the Hivemind, it’s reacting very similarly to an immune system. We’re the foreign pathogens and right now the Hive’s immune system is in a state similar to an alarm reaction. It’s weak right now, it doesn’t know what’s happening and I-“

“Hurry it up, Schauffer. What did you see?” She made a rolling motion with her hands to tell her to move faster. 

“The hive’s regenerative abilities are faltering right now, there’s infighting, Brigadier,” she stressed her words as she spoke, trying to convey how important this was. “If we strike now, we can squash this infection for good. It’s the perfect time and it won’t last forever. If I lead a squad this-“

“No.” The Brigadier cut her off with a single word. “You aren’t leading anything right now. You’re in detention for a week, Schauffer. And then you’ve got two more to finish this overrun mission before I give it to someone else. Do you understand?”

“But now is-“

“Do you understand!?” She repeated, leaning forward in Schauffer’s chair, glaring into her eyes. 

“Yes, Brigadier Savant,” she regained her composure. “Absolutely.”

“Well now. Let’s talk. To start off, you went into the zone of action without a team, there was a lack of communication. You didn’t report this task or your location to anyone formally. You’re out of uniform, you’re missing your tranquilliser, and you took a Civilian into the red zone. Let’s talk consequences shall we?” 

“Wait,” she straightened her back. “The civilian in question wants to have a word with you first.” It would be better for Melissa to take it now. She couldn’t look the girl in the eyes again if she came out demoted to a sergeant 

“What?” 

“The civilian wants to talk to you. She’s outside,” she stammered.

The Brigadier looked doubtful. “Bring her in. We’ll have five minutes, stand by the door. Don’t even think about leaving.”

“Understood.” Schauffer dipped her head and exited, taking a second to catch her breath. 

Melissa was waiting as she was told, fiddling with her hands. 

“Melissa, you can go in, don’t keep her waiting,” she waved her to the door.

Melissa bit down on her lip, grabbing Schauffer’s hand. “Does she really talk to you like that?” 

Schauffer blinked, pausing. “Oh. Melissa no. We all talk to each other like that. We’re a ragtag bunch. Don’t you worry about me.” She didn’t want any more sympathies, she pushed Melissa in to her office and took up her place instead. 

If five minutes was all Schauffer was going to have to collect her thoughts and come to an acceptance, than five minutes was all she had. No fighting it. 

But then five minutes turned into ten, and ten into twenty, and suddenly it was half an hour by the time Melissa stepped out, a rather pleased smile on her face. 

“I’ll see myself back to the lab, Colonel Schauffer.” There was an emphasis on her title, and she gave another polite smile before walking off in the wrong direction. 

“It’s that way, Melissa,” she pointed down the left hallway. 

“Oh! Thanks!” She spun around to dart down the path to make up for lost time. 

Schauffer steadied her breath before stepping back in. “The consequences, Brigadier Savant?” 

Savant looked thoughtful, she was leaning back in Schauffer’s chair and playing with a pen between her fingers. “Your little friend told me the whole story.”

Schauffer froze. That was definitely going to make things worse. “I- sorry, Melissa-miss Faith is a little shocked, she’s just recovered from the infection and she’s a bit of a football bat, scatterbrained-“

“What are you sorry for, Schauffer?” The Brigadier sounded like she was ribbing. “She had lots of interesting things to say and she got around to them much faster than you. And what a way she has with telling her little stories! It was almost a show and dance!” She snorted, thoroughly amused. “Sit down, Schauffer,” she tilted her head at the chair on the other side of the bench.

Very cautious and very confused, she pulled out the seat. 

“She put your little immune system theory into better words. If you had the chance to collect that girl from the apartments why didn’t you take it?” Savant asked, leaning forward with her elbows on Schauffer’s nice desk. “Wasn’t she vulnerable enough? I want the lab looking at this disease.” 

She eased up a little bit, comforted ever so slightly by Savant’s interest. “I don’t think it was a disease. It was more like the hivemind being pulled apart. It was more like a syndrome or-“

“I’m not a doctor, Schauffer. The exhibit was sick. Why didn’t you take her?” 

Schauffer shook her head, rooting her boots to the floor. “From my understanding I did not believe it was a safe option to remove her from the island. Emma Perkins, Kelly, appears to be at the peak of the Hive alongside Ben Bridges. The patients we’ve cured of the infection are warning us about them, and the infected participants are violent enough as it is. It was too risky.” She needed the Brigadier to know she wasn’t that much of a fuckup. She had her reasoning behind letting Emma get away. 

“Alright. I understand that. If you believe it was the right call.” Relaxed, Savant leant back in her chair, nodding in thought. “Miss Faith told me you tried to stick to your protocol. You had the best interests in mind. So let’s leave it at one week of desk arrest, alright?”

Shit. Melissa had actually done it. And more surprisingly, the Brigadier seemed to love her. “Thank you, Brigadier Savant.”

“It was a good initiative, bad judgement situation. You’re lucky you had your friend to cover for you.” She stood up. “You’re the leader of this operation Colonel. I don’t want excuses about other people’s slip ups. The people here will listen to you if you knock some fear into them.” She was in no hurry to get to the door. “But Colonel Schauffer, watch your six.”

“Yes, Brigadier. Thank you for your visit.” She dipped her head deeper to show she really did appreciate getting off unharmed, but the Brigadier had already left her office.

Schauffer let out a sigh she had been holding deep in her burning lungs. She leant back in her chair, letting her head roll back and her head tip up. What a close call. What a dumb move. She rubbed her hand over her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose before standing back up. She still had to deal with everyone in the lab, because letting a patient slip out wasn’t going to be too clean. 

She trudged back down the hall and off towards the lab, weighed down by all the people staring at her. People could probably have heard her scolding from a hundred miles away, and if they didn’t, they all still knew what had happened. Gossip spread quick. 

She just glared daggers at anyone who tried to stop her or even look at her. “Get back to work,” she would snap, and with a little bit of hesitation they would do as they were told. But god they moved slow.

“Hey!” She heard a cheery voice call from behind her. 

She whipped around to grab her culprit’s wrist to detain them, but it was only Melissa.

“I’m still learning not to sneak up on you,” she admitted awkwardly as the colonel held her wrist behind her back. 

Schauffer released her. “Yes. You can’t keep doing that,” she wiped her hands down to remove herself of the attack. She was still jumpy, not that she would confess it. “Why aren’t you back at the lab?” 

“I got lost,” she nodded. “Did everything go well with Helen?”

“You mean Brigadier Savant?” 

“Oh. She told me to call her Helen,” Melissa grinned. “I think she likes me.” 

Schauffer hushed her before rubbing her palm back into her eyes with a stifled groan. “How did you get her to like you?” 

“Super easy. You scope out what sort of a person it is, and if their ego seems pretty big and important to them I just say whatever dumb stuff I’ve got going in my head out loud. Simple. Some people think you should try and be smart and cool like them, but no one likes their ego threatened,” she crossed her arms and nodded sagely. “She only likes me because she doesn’t think there’s any way I could get to her. And that’s how you climb the rungs of the social ladder. I used to be a personal assistant, but pshh, I was practically running that place.”

Schauffer didn’t ask her to elaborate. Was she not just saying any dumb thing that came to her head right now? What did that say about Schauffer’s ego? She just let Melissa ramble as she opened up the doors to the lab. 

Instantly, everyone in the lab seemed to flood to her to check she was safe, patting her on the back and taking her hand in a flurry that lasted only a second before scattering so they wouldn’t get in trouble.

“The Brigadier didn’t kill you?!” Taylor gasped a little dramatically. “She’d have my head on a spike just for making her wait!” 

“And you’ve brought the stow away back with you too it looks,” Doctor Adam rubbed out the stress lines on his forehead. 

“I didn’t mean to let her out. I understand that might’ve caused some hiccups in the process.”

Adam winced. “No. Not at all. The participants in cell A have been cleared for much longer than they need to be. But we just don’t know what to do with them. And none of Danny and Sofia’s ideas have been helping at all.” 

“Danny reckons we just let them into the street and let them fend for themselves like wild animals,” Taylor snickered. “Not very helpful.” 

Melissa poked her head past Schauffer’s shoulders to introduce herself into the conversation. “And that’s what I’m here for!” She held out her arms like she was expecting a round of applause. “I promised Colonel Schauffer I could be the best assistant, and I’m gonna sort all of this out!” 

“We haven’t agreed on that yet,” Schauffer chimed in. 

“Well you will!” Melissa assured her.

“Aw,” Taylor gave a half frown. “I thought I was your assistant.” 

“I thought you were an intern,” Schauffer raised an eyebrow. 

Taylor gave an understanding nod of their head before clearing off. “Guess I was a pretty shit assistant then.” 

Adam held forth his clipboard to Schauffer. “We’ve finished the new round of vaccine. I suppose you want me to email it to you?” 

“No. I’ll sign it now, where’s a pen?” 

“Here!” Melissa snatched one off a scientist’s desk, already jumping at a chance to prove herself. 

“This is a much better design,” Adam explained as she signed. “It doesn’t kill off the brain cells but only targets infected ones. Hopefully, if it goes according to plan they should be able to keep all their memories of the infection.”

“Well that’ll be great for fieldwork notes. Shall we test it?” 

“Right away!” Adam looked around quickly for a scientist who could enter the chambers. “So who did we have in holding? Sam Miller, Bea Garcia, Nora Brown. Take your pick.”

“Ew,” Melissa was loitering by the glass, poking a finger at Sam’s chamber. “Not him. He’s mega rude.” 

“Or, alternatively,” came a third voice from behind Schauffer. A collection of soldiers from the docking bay were lugging her two new catches in. “You left some important stuff in the chopper, colonel.” 

“Oh! Charlotte and Ted!” Melissa swerved between busy scientists to get to the two familiar yet still unconscious faces. “Can we try it on them? Please Colonel?” 

There weren’t any more cells to put them in. “Uhh,” she walked up to cell A, turning the one-way glass off and turning on the mic. “Cell A? Can you three hear me in there?” 

The three participants were lingering around the beds in the room, Deb still had Melissa’s cat in her lap. “Is Melissa dead?” She called out. 

“I’ll take that as a yes. But Miss Faith is with me. How would you three like to stretch your legs?”

They all looked overjoyed about that, jumping to their feet. Deb raced to the door, one fist knocking at it.

“Someone... you.” She pointed at a passing scientist. “Take these three for a lap around HQ. Try and find Danny and Sofia if you can. God knows where they’re off to.”

“Are you allowed to do that?” The scientist asked. 

“Yes. If I can’t then who can? The doctor just said their clean so the colonel says take them for a walk,” she growled.

Two other scientists who were a little more skittish had already hurried to open up the door when Schauffer first gave the order.  
Now the participants were hurrying out of the chamber as if they would miss their chance, excited as children. 

They all had energy they needed to exert and Deb chose to do this by knocking a clipboard out of the assigned scientists hand and yelling out that they had to go walking right now! Like some sort of personified puppy. 

Mr. Davidson had decided to just walk out straight ahead before the scientist could wrangle them all together and Rob rocked back and forth on his shoes to try and hide his excitement. 

“Alright, and you two can put them in that room,” Schauffer gave the next order as soon as Melissa had reunited with her cat. 

Charlotte and Ted were dragged over to Cell A with some roar or harmony from the onlooking Infected’s in their own chamber.   
They were placed down in the beds, restrained, and hooked up to the IV’s.

“Suited up,” Taylor announced to the lab as they threw on the helmet of their hazmat suit. They were accompanied by two of the regular guards into the cell despite the fact their participants were still knocked out. The vaccines went through smoothly. None of the vomiting or writhing or screaming. 

Adam was watching on with wide eyes, taking in the success of his new vaccine. 

“It looks like it’s going good,” Schauffer observed. “How long until you think they’ll be up?” 

Adam held up a hand for silence. “Just a second, just wait.” 

And as they were on the way out of the cells, Charlotte sat bolt upright, an unfinished harmony dripping from her mouth.

“Oh boy!” Taylor clapped a hand to their forehead, looking through the glass for the colonel. 

“Stay there,” Schauffer commanded.

“Huh!?” They pressed up against the door, the guards prepping their tasers.

And then Charlotte paled, shaking her head and trying to pull at the restraints. 

And then Ted woke up too, a small grunt being the only sign. 

With disbelief, Taylor spoke into their mouthpiece. “They’re clean. I’ve got a view of their eyes. They’re clean.” 

“It worked!” Adam cheered triumphantly as Taylor’s voice came through the speakers. “It really worked!” 

Schauffer clapped him on the back to share his success, and when she turned back, Melissa threw her hands around her in a hug. 

“Good job!” She exclaimed. 

“That’s on the Doctor. Not me,” she eased herself out of the hug. 

Melissa nodded, trying to hold onto Schauffer’s hands. “But you’ve done good today too, Colonel!” 

Schauffer rolled her eyes, amused. “Thanks, Melissa.”

She lost visuals on the containment cells as doctors started coming in and out, tending to the patients. Taylor and the guards headed off to the next cell and then the next, prescribing the vaccine to each of the Infected they had in the chambers. 

“Let’s step outside,” she guided Melissa towards the doors to stay out of the way of the new rush of white-coated doctors and hazmatted scientists. 

“So? How did it go?” Melissa bounced up and down excitedly. “With The Brigadier? Did I do well?” 

Schauffer nodded. “I hope you didn’t argue with her.”

She shook her head, one hand staying hooked to Schauffer’s arm. “No! I did no persuading. I just told her all the cool stuff you did! Why? What did she say?” 

Schauffer bit back a grin. “I’m detained from field work for a week and that’s it.” 

“Oh yay!” Melissa beamed, still hopping up and down. “See! I told you it would all be alright! And I’m totally gonna take the credit for it too! So what do you say? Will you let me be your assistant?” 

“You’re pretty keen.”

“Well it was boring being Mr. Davidson’s assistant!” She pouted. “All I had to do was get people to sign things and make photocopies. I had way more fun with you!” She shook Schauffer’s arm pleadingly, stopping her bouncing. 

“You do paperwork?” 

“All sorts!”

Schauffer snorted, taking Melissa’s hand off her arm. “Then maybe this is the job for you. You’re hired.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ll upload a few more normal oneshots tomorrow probably bc I know this fic isn’t for everyone ! I just wanted to powerthrough to the paulkins chapters bc I’m greedy like that


	12. Desk arrest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Colonel Schauffer is using her time on desk arrest to get things moving back at HQ and seek out important information, meanwhile, Paul, Emma and Hidgens are starting to clue into what’s happening

Maybe it was a good thing Schauffer had been given a week of detention from Savant. It was forcing her to get through all the stacked up paper work that kept appearing in her office, and with Melissa’s help she was getting through them faster than usual. 

Melissa had even been keeping a list of all the things that had happened during her week shut inside. 

New chambers had been set up to maximise participant numbers, accomodation had finally been organised for those who were cured and she had even ensured a sort of parole system for them. She had strung together a team of Privates to check in on each of the patients. They all finally received a new change of clothes so their original sets could be burned at the risk of being contaminated. Melissa had very proudly been flaunting around an officers uniform and a keycard that allowed her into rooms all across HQ. She had to be invited to the team, she was Schauffer’s right hand man now. 

Several squads had even been successfully launched each day without her, bringing back groups of sample participants four times a day.  
In her week off, one hundred and thirty two new subjects had gone through the vaccine and quarantine, and Hatchetfield’s infected population was quickly dropping down. 

And this all had to be credited to Melissa. A tiny 5’4 Secretary with a brave and bossy enough personality to take what she wanted when she needed it. People moved out of her way faster than the colonel’s these days. 

But she wasn’t envious, she was just proud. Melissa never took any of the credit, and lauded Schauffer’s name throughout the canteen. She didn’t even complain about how awful the food was. 

Schauffer’s real only problem with Melissa was that where she went her cat tended to follow. And that meant the white furball spent most of its day wondering about Schauffer’s office. And they still weren’t on good terms. 

Whenever she stood up from her chair the cat would crouch down and let out a low, worried mewl and Schauffer would have to stand there and have to wait until it decided to slink out of her way. 

“Colonel! You don’t have to be afraid of mewmew she’s just a little, baby girl,” Melissa cooed, scooping her cat up into her arms to carry her down the halls as they left to the main observational lab. “Did you get those papers all finished up? I’ll email them off for you tonight.” 

Schauffer nodded, keeping a little distance from the cat as they walked. “I’m all on top of it now.” 

“Oh, you’re on top of what I sectioned off for you to do this morning. You’ve got a lot more to get onto! But right now we’re heading to the lab!” She stuck a finger up in the air as she made her declaration. “Plus, you’re gonna have a bunch more after your meeting I bet.”

The colonel groaned. The paperwork just never seemed to stop. But at least Melissa was making it easier, pre-reading them to make sure she was signing off on trial tests and deliveries and not nuclear warfare. 

“Hi, Colonel Schauffer!” Taylor greeted her first. “We’re just about to get a new round of the vaccine prepped. Wanna have a look at today’s suspects? They were brought back by last nights squad.” 

Another great thing about Melissa was that she chopped down identification times because she already recognised everyone. 

While Taylor finished suiting up in their hazmat suit, Melissa gave her the tour. 

“So this guy here is pretty cool,” Melissa strolled up to cell A, grabbing one of her cat’s little paws and pressing it to the glass. “We only have one attorney in Hatchetfield, and here he is! This is Mr. Goldstein, he’s sort of just chilling out right now.” 

The man inside was familiar in a way. Schauffer was fairly sure she had seen him when she was in Hatchetfield last. 

“And here we’ve got this man. He used to run the cranioplasty centre. Doctor Monroe, he was with Mr. Goldstein when we found him. And the last guy we’ve got in here is this guy I see hanging around Beanies all the time, I’m pretty sure he’s homeless.” 

Schauffer was a little more curious as to why Hatchetfield only had one attorney but god forbid what would happen without a local cranioplasty centre.   
“And how fast have we been moving them from containment to recovery?” Schauffer examined each of the men closely. They were much different to the first test subjects they brought in.

Danny and Sof, and then even Melissa’s group had thrashed and fought and wailed in their cells. But these three were quiet with resignation like they new what was coming. 

The attorney was huddled in his little corner, the doctor was pacing and the homeless man was screaming into the farthest corner of his small cell. 

“The vaccine has been going in in the morning and then by night they’re off to the quarantine dorms for 24 hours. We’ve got about one hundred and fifty patients being accommodated for right now. It’s a smooth system!”

Schauffer gave her a pat on the back. “You’ve got a good system running Melissa.”

“It’s a work in process. You haven’t seen the best of me yet!” 

———————————————————

Emma’s head was a mess. It ached and hurt and Hidgens didn’t know what was wrong. It felt like it was splitting right down the middle and the skin around her eyes was tinted blueish like the blood was leaking from the vessels. 

And now Emma wasn’t the only one. The Hive was unfolding itself. There were twelve more outbreaks and symptoms were showing up in so many more. Hidgens was even getting too much of a headache to concentrate on his research.

But for the first time in days, she had been strong enough to walk and talk again. And she could feel the strength returning to her muscles, the pain ebbing away. 

But poor Paul. Ever since the uniformed lady had shown up and attacked him he hadn’t been the same. He was quiet, and he didn’t sing as often. He kept his arms clung tightly around Emma at all times, his head in the crook of her neck like he needed her to breathe. He would sit with her in his lap sometimes all day, rubbing circles into her hands with his thumbs, and if she could muster anything up she would hum for him.

“Emma, can you sing a C sharp for me?” Hidgens was staggering around his lab from tuning fork to tuning fork, reading through his papers and double checking his samples as Emma sung for him. 

“Professor, can you tell us what’s wrong?” Paul spoke up from where his head was pressed against Emma’s back. “What’s happening to our song?” 

“I can’t tell. I just don’t know. These papers don’t make any sense to me. Your singing is still on tune, my dear.” The professor stumbled over to settle himself down on the couch besides the couple, passing over the papers of his findings.   
“I believe it may have something to do how many people have gone missing.” 

Emma’s eyes were too tired to focus on his shaky writing, and she tossed her head down to rest it on Hidgens’ knee, her body curled up in Paul’s lap. 

Paul let out a huff of pain himself before dropping his head down to rest on Emma’s shoulder. “I’ll keep you safe,” he growled to her. “I’m never letting you get hurt ever again. I’ll keep you right here with me, and you’ll stay.”

“I’ll stay, my love. I’ll stay by your side forever,” she whispered back.

“Good,” Paul planted a kiss to her neck to let her know he would make the same promise. “I love you, I love you, I love you.” 

She let Paul continue to whisper sweet nothings to her, and Hidgens held his hand to her forehead to close her heavy eyes. She let the both of them thaw away the pain in her head, and share their strength with her.

There was a buzzing going through the Hive, tickling the back of their minds like some sort of extra frequency trying to fight its way into the Hive. But at the same time, it was a deafening silence.   
It felt like a ghost limb, such a huge portion of the family had just vanished from the island to who knows where. It made Paul’s brain feel lopsided. 

“It’s a similar phenomenon to synaptic pruning it seems to appear. The Hive is damaged, but it will regather, and everything will grow clear,” Hidgens ran a hand through Emma’s mousy hair. “We’ll all feel better soon my dear.” 

———————————————————

Schauffer sat at the head of the conference table with Melissa in the chair to her side, stroking her cat in her lap like some sort of cartoon villain. 

There were four armed guards positioned at the doors, but otherwise this meeting was confidential. 

Surrounding the table were a select five patients who had cleared quarantine and were healthy enough for the meeting.

“Is she allowed to sit up there?” Ted asked, pointing at Melissa. His voice was a little croaky as an after effect of his time in the Hive, and he was still nursing an ice pack to his head to dull the throbbing and swelling of his head. 

“I’m running this meeting, Ted,” she announced to the whole table, her hands slapping down on the wood. 

“Don’t say that,” Schauffer tried to brush her hands off the table.

“I thought you were taking notes?” Mr. Davidson raised an eyebrow. 

“I’m actually your boss now, Ken,” she gave him a warning look. 

Schauffer shook her head. “No she isn’t,” she told the table before turning to chide Melissa privately. “Stop telling everyone that.”

“Why?”

“You’re temporarily work with PEIP, you’re a civil servant now too. He’s still your boss, you’re going back to CCRP when this is all over,” Schauffer scolded. 

“Aw man,” Melissa pouted. “So you’re gonna turn that logic on me now too?” 

“Alright!” Schauffer stood up to announce the beginning of the meeting. “I’ve round you all up because it’s been reported you all have connections to Mr Paul Matthews or Miss Emma Perkins. Is that correct?” 

The table dishes out some hesitant nods. 

“This is about her?” A man grumbled. Schauffer hadn’t seen him before, and assumed he had been brought in on her week off. 

“So have you all met during your time here? Do we need to go around the circle at all? Who do we have,” she grabbed the sheet Melissa had brought to the meeting. 

“Alright, you two are his coworkers, you’re his boss,” she mumbled as she ran through the names. “You’re her boss and you’re her father. Brilliant. We’ve got the best we can get here for the time being it seems.” She clapped her hands together, sitting back down in her chair with one leg crossed over the other. She bounced her hand against the bottom of her boot, making a loud enough noise to quiet the confused chattering. “You’ve all been invited to this fun little meeting because our friends here are, as we say in the military world, TARFU.” 

Melissa snickered, because she had been taught what the acronym meant. 

“A what?” Charlotte asked. “Tar-tar what?” She glanced at Ted, who only rolled his eye to the side because his head was too sore to move.

“Totally and absolutely fucked up,” the man, Emma’s father it appeared, spoke up. 

Ted gave a dying laugh of his own, but took back to nursing his head. 

“Exactly. Paul and Emma have been a bit of a crux in the plan and we need insight on how to stop them. They’ve got a body count of good soldiers, and they seem to be twice as powerful as anyone else out there,” she waved her hand in a sweeping gesture. “Why?”

“Oh, easy,” Ted leant back in his chair so the headrest would hold his ice pack to his head. “He’s the king.” 

“The what?” Melissa spat. “The king?” She jolted forward so hard in her chair that her cat jumped off and onto the table. 

Charlotte nodded her head. “He’s in charge of the whole hive, Miss colonel.” 

The woman, Emma’s boss, cleared her throat. “We all know who Paul is. I was there when he was infected.”

“Oh yeah. Me too,” Ted pointed at himself and then at Mr. Davidson. “He was infected by the meteor itself. Some huge fucking rock in the theatre. The professor guy has a way better explanation.” 

“The professor?” Schauffer hadn’t heard of a professor. “Who’s that?” 

“Uh,” Nora looked between Ted and the man sitting next to her. “I thought the professor was Emma’s father. From what I knew of him at least.” 

“God. This god damned professor,” the big man growled. “He’s a phoney, colonel. I wouldn’t waste any time with him. He isn’t her father. He works at the local community college and he’s a creep.” 

Schauffer scanned the table to measure the mixed reactions. Emma’s father gave her quite a lot of respect - he spoke to her like she was the president of the states, but he was a little too choppy with everyone else, and not in even in a   
rough-and-tough type of way. He was all too serious. 

“So Matthews is an enhanced specimen, but what about Perkins? Why is she so powerful?” 

“She isn’t,” Ted took up the lead again. “She’s just tagging along with Paul.” 

Charlotte cleared her throat, nervous to talk. “Perhaps it’s because he infected her? Maybe it’s a by-product?” 

“No, no, no,” Mr. Davidson shook his head. “Emma can’t be that strong. Last time I was on the island Emma’s leg wasn’t working right.” 

“Ah!” Schauffer clapped her hands together loudly, stopping the discussion short. “She’s got a bad leg, that’s right! It must have gotten worse without proper treatment, and dancing on it can’t be doing it much!”

“I’m writing it down!” Melissa gave a squeal to show she shared Schauffer’s excitement. 

“Keep it rolling, what about Paul?” She pointed a marker at Mr. Davidson. “What sort of weaknesses has he got?” 

“He was the king, he didn’t have any weaknesses,” Nora added instead. 

“He was a dumbass though, that’s what,” Ted snorted. 

Melissa’s cat was making its way down the table, featherlight steps over the wood until it got to the note paper in the middle, and dropped to its stomach to scratch at it. 

“Awww!” Melissa cooed. “Ted, if mewmew wasn’t the cutest cat ever I’d come right down there and we’d go for round two. Don’t talk about Paul like that or I’ll knock your head off your neck,” she beamed despite the threats her words carried. “Paul isn’t stupid. He’s just a nerd.” 

“Any real suggestions, anyone?” 

“Well he likes Emma. That’s for sure,” Nora shrugged in defeat. “Even before this whole infection, he would come into work and try and flirt with Emma.” 

“It was a love story for the ages!” Melissa interrupted. “Do you know how many five dollar notes he borrow from my purse to give to her?” 

“Alright. Productive meeting, gang.” Schauffer shot a look over Melissa’s shoulder to see what she was writing, but aside from a little scribble around the word ‘leg’ and ‘reminder: Paul owes me 20 bucks >:(‘ there wasn’t much.   
“So in short we’ve got some war machines here.”

“Hah. Barely. Just hit them where it hurts,” Emma’s father laughed. “Colonel, Emma’s not even five foot tall, you can just kick her over.” 

“With due respect, Mr. Perkins, Emma tore out the throat of one of our sergeants two weeks ago. I’m not allowing my platoon to just ‘kick her over.’”

“Well Colonel Schauffer,” again, he didn’t seem to want to disrespect her at all, only everybody else. Something about him gave her the impression he was once a military man himself. “Your soldiers should ruck it up. She’s the size of a child, give her a black eye and she’ll be out of commission for a week to go cry it off.” 

Nora edged her wheely chair away from Mr. Perkins, and Mr. Davidson shot him an absurd look. 

“I’m sorry, Mr. Perkins, is this not your daughter we’re talking about?” 

He rolled his eyes in a way that was almost immature. “No, actually. She’s no child of mine. If you want any info about her you ask her co workers, that man she’s with, or go to the Professor.” 

Schauffer’s eyes widened with horror ever so slightly. She wasn’t sure what familial issues she had stumbled into here.

“Who’s this professor character you all seem to know?” Schauffer tapped Melissa’s shoulder to ask her to bring his file up on her new PEIP-issued laptop. 

“Professor Henry Hidgens,” Ted explained. “Teaches down at the local community college where Emma studied.”

“Total doomsday prepper. He’s got fences and security, his house is impossible to get into,” Charlotte frowned, sad she couldn’t bring any good news. 

“Oh no, he leaves it open now. Everyone has been allowed it!” Nora reminded them. “He wouldn’t have a need to protect himself from everyone else on the island.” 

Emma’s father shook his head again, letting out a noise that implied she was wrong. “Nope. That was the last time you were on the island. I’ve barely been out of that place for 48 hours. The professor’s got them all shut up again because him and Paul want their little brat protected. The Hive caught some god damn infection type bullshit, and everyone was getting sick.” 

“Everyone?” 

“Well there were a dozen cases, and it was spreading. If you can get past those fences you can get into his house and kill the lot of them,” he declared like he was starting a war. 

“We are not aiming to kill!” Schauffer stood back up from her chair. The meeting was done. “We just need to capture them.” She waved her hand like she was shaking something off it. 

What a disgusting way to talk about your child. She held up a hand to signal to the guards. “Escort them back to their rooms,” she ordered, and when they were gone she fell backwards into her chair, letting it roll. 

“What’s wrong, colonel?” Melissa asked, clutching her clipboard to her chest. 

She exhaled, pressing a hand to her temple. “There are real people under these infections, aren’t there?” She only seemed to remember this now. “I’ve never stopped to think about it like that.” 

“There are, Colonel,” Melissa nodded, remaining quiet to give her time to think.

All the blood and guts and gore she had seen didn’t quite rank up to the feeling this gave her in her gut. All this time she had been looking at Emma like a target, but maybe that’s how Emma had been looked at her whole life.  
She had met her, if only very briefly. The girl was bright and resilient against the apocalypse she had just been through. She was stubborn and brace and soldiered through her physical training and surgery and therapy like it was nothing. All she wanted was to see the man who made her happy. 

Every day in that hospital it had been questions about Paul. ‘Are you sure he didn’t make it?’ ‘Did you actually find his body?’ ‘I’m sure Paul must still be alive.’ 

Why was it so different when she was Infected? It was the Infection, not the girl doing the damage. 

She let a snarl ruminate in the back of her throat. She wouldn’t mind using her father to bait Emma out, even when she knew what she was capable of doing. 

“Good god,” Schauffer stood up, taking her beret off and slipping her hair out of its pony tail so she could run her nails through it thoroughly. “I’m doing something wrong, Melissa. What is it?”

“You’re trying to rush it, I think.”

“The Brigadier said I have two weeks left to finish up once this week was over. I need answers. I need to find a way to stop Matthews and Perkins.” 

“Well, Colonel Schauffer,” Melissa liked to use her full name when she was testing the boundaries of their relationship. “I think maybe you’re a little violent about speeding it along. I think maybe, you should leave Emma and Paul for last, when the Hive isn’t so strong.” 

She tapped her foot, her hands on her hips while she racked her thoughts for an answer to what was happening. Was she feeling guilty? Remorseful? She snatched Melissa’s notes from her hand to look at what this meeting was about.   
Had she just taken valuable time out of her day to plan a violent strike on a child with a history of domestic issues? 

“Melissa, I can’t slow this mission down at all if I want to keep my job.”

“Well maybe you should just start with anyone but Paul and Emma. It’s been going pretty smoothly with this weeks task forces! And they’ve just been picking people off the outskirts!” She suggested hopefully, trying her best to help out. She hadn’t seen Schauffer this confused before. 

“We still have to get the two of them eventually.”

“But maybe not until the end,” Melissa rephrased herself to make sure Schauffer understood. “If they’re dangerous now, you can wait to handle them later.” 

“I can handle them, Melissa. It’s just a matter of whether or not I can get to them,” she held up a finger to tell Melissa not to test her. 

Melissa’s voice fell to a mumble. “Well you can’t. They’re at the professors. They’re all locked off. It’s like a video game. You can’t do that level yet.” 

Schauffer smoothed the creases from her uniform. “You’re right, Melissa.” It was a strange analogy, she didn’t really get it. “They’re too dangerous right now. I worry I’ve missed my chance already. The Hive might not be weak by the time I’m back in zone.” She couldn’t do much about that anymore. “I shouldn’t. I can’t.”

“Promise?” Melissa asked carefully. “You sound unsure. Promise me you aren’t gonna try and get them. You might get hurt,” There was a lilt to her voice like she was leaving something unspoken. 

Schauffer walked behind Melissa’s chair so she couldn’t see her face. She patted her back with one firm hand. 

“I said promise me, Colonel Schauffer. I don’t want you to-“ she stumbled on her wording for a second. “When we were at my apartment, I saw all that blood.”

Schauffer came to a halt in her tracks. 

“Paul did that?” Her voice cracked and Schauffer didn’t want to turn around to see the tears that would most definitely be there. 

“It wasn’t him, Melissa. It was the infection.” 

“I know. It has to be. Paul would never, he’s gentle, he’s the kindest man I know. Even now while he’s sick he’s just trying to look after everyone else. And he has so much love to give when people let him show it. I know that.” 

Schauffer couldn’t even nod to show she was listening. She was trying to ground herself, but Melissa’s voice was moving. 

“We grew up together, and he was the only friend I had, and I really need you to bring him home safely, and bring yourself home safely. So I need you to promise you won’t go after Paul.”

She was going to open her mouth to reply but Melissa wasn’t finished. 

“I’m scared I’ve already lost him. I don’t want to lose you too, Colonel.” 

Schauffer wasn’t good with words. Before her head could think, her hand moved to salute Melissa. 

“So do you swear? You promise?”

Slowly, stiffly, she brought herself to nod. She cleared her throat so her voice wouldn’t crack and she spoke the one promise she wasn’t going to allow herself to break. “I promise you, Melissa.”


	13. Hair tie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mcnamara keeps in touch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know what just pretend they rhyme when they speak

Schauffer’s task force, force B, was assigned the northern side of the island. It was a simple scouting mission, grabbing a few of the more vulnerable members of society to take back to rehabilitation.  
The young, the elderly, the ill. 

Ethics codes didn’t matter anymore, they had developed the perfect cure for the time being and it didn’t need testing anymore. 

And if things were going as she planned, the more they picked off they picked off, the weaker the Hive would get. And then eventually, when things were safer, she could take Paul and Emma and wrap up the mission in time. 

She and her squad of fifteen, with the addition of Melissa close by her side had collected seven participants, and group A had collected four. 

Things were back on track. This was a success. 

“Colonel,” Melissa addressed her through her radio she had been given despite being only a few steps away. “Can we take a closer look at that girl?” She pointed with her finger at the very end of the block. 

There, mingling with a small group of teenagers was appeared to be a girl in a deep pink jumper. 

“What about her?” Schauffer asked, allowing Melissa to stealth up the street. 

“I think that’s one of my coworker’s daughters.”

“Yeah?” Schauffer got her tranq ready. She would need to separate the girl from the gang she was mingling with or take all three of them out. 

“Her name’s Alice. She’s eighteen.”

Schauffer held up a hand above her head, beckoning a few members of her scattered squad to close in on her to cover her while she made the shot. 

“Alice,” Schauffer ran the name around her mouth. It was familiar. “Has she got anything to do with Deborah? Isn’t that who she told us to keep an eye out for?” 

Melissa, who was now in charge of managing Schauffer’s notes nodded. “And! Have a look!” She tried to creep a little further but Schauffer grabbed her collar to pull her back. 

“If you want to come on these missions stick with me,” Schauffer scolded, keeping her volume low so she didn’t alert the teenage congregation. “I’m going to need some sort of child leash if you keep that up.” 

“Sorry, Colonel,” Melissa apologised, but she was excited and bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. “The second boy there, do you see him? In the bow tie? That’s Rob’s brother! He asked for him too!” 

Schauffer licked her lips. She loved that sort of two for one type of deal. Made her job a hell of a lot easier, and helped her take her mind off not looking for the proclaimed king and queen of the Hive. 

“We’ll take all three out,” she told Melissa, signing it out to her nearby squad members. She put her hands on Melissa’s shoulders to tell her to stay put as her and two force members closed in on the trio. 

She had missed this sort of action, it was helping her blood pump and she couldn’t hold back a grin as she steadied her focus. 

Closer, closer, closer. She hunched down lower, moving in slower. Tranq raised focused on the spot between the girl’s shoulder blades. She eyed both her partners to check they were targeting their own catches. 

They were hunched right down now, there was little to no cover in these sort of suburb areas, and to get any attack benefits from surprise required a lot of stealth. Schauffer’s knees touched the pavement with every crawl forward, and now she could hear the song they were singing. 

A chilling three part harmony, but with very little choreography. This wasn’t the usual Hive energy, the teens seemed frightened almost. 

She signaled her group to a halt, bringing up her tranq and lining up her shot. 

And then her mic went off with a crackle. 

The three teens turned around, their harmony shattering and turning into garbled squeals instead. 

“Shit!” Schauffer pulled the trigger, and the girl passed out mid-step as the dart lodged into her back.

Her partner on her left shot up to grab the boy’s shoulders and shot his tranq into the back of his neck when he tried to flee.   
On her right, her partner snatched the back of the third teen’s sleeve with the hand holding their tranq.   
The teen tried to pull away, turning around with hands outstretched like claws, striking at the soldier.   
They whipped out the gun from their holster to whack into her head to knock her out before aiming the tranq for good measure.   
It was a messy secure.

“Soldier, what’s the matter?” She grabbed her mic off her vest as her squad tidied up the bodies. “My channel is only open for emergencies, what’s the problem?” She wiped her hands down on her pants as she made her way back to Melissa, who clapped for her. 

Her radio buzzed. “We’ve got sight of Matthews and Perkins.” 

“Well you know what I ordered, soldier. Is that really what you’re using the emergency channel for?” She put her other arm around Melissa’s shoulder to walk her back into a safe zone as she warned the soldier on the line with her. “You aren’t to fire at them right now. They’re dangerous.”

“I’ve got a clear shot on both of them, and I’m covered by four soldiers.” 

“It’s my order. Do not fire at either of them. Affirmative!?” She snarled sternly. It sounded almost too good to believe, but she promised Melissa. “You have to listen to me, soldier. What’s your number?” 

“I can make this shot. It’d be clean.” 

“And I’m telling you not to. I don’t care.” She was worried she was going to lose more of her already questionable respect in her department after the Brigadiers visit. “Do not fire!” He wasn’t listening. 

There was a small click on the end of the comm, and then a small but distant ‘oh fuck’ picked up from someone else’s mic. 

“Soldier?” She called, repeating herself twice and ensuring her hand was on the speaking button. “Come through.” She tried to page someone else in the zone the first speaker had been marked at. 

“Uh oh,” Melissa began timidly. “Is everything okay?” 

She waved her hand up to draw her squad in, and her nearby members came to gather around her. “We’re heading south. There might be problems in Zone A. Get ready to wrap up the field trip, got it? I need you all on the open channel. We’ve got something.” She picked up her pace into a brisk walk. “Soldier?” She tried again. “Do not fire!” She repeated like she might still have the chance. 

Another voice came through the emergency channel mic. “Colonel? Can I get a reading on number two thirty seven? He wasn’t assigned to my party, is he in yours?” 

“This is the emergency channel, soldier. Why do you need a reading?” She asked.

“Well it’s an unidentified soldier. I can’t see their lapel but I think it might be a sergeant if that helps.”

“Two thirty seven?” Schauffer asked Melissa, taking her thumb off the button. 

Melissa shrugged, shaking her head. “This is three hundred through to twenty. He isn’t with our group. Must be with theirs.” 

“Alright Soldier, stay on your mic. Have you got a clear view of their ID? They’re with PEIP and not an Infected civ?” Schauffer pulled Melissa a little closer to her just to ensure the girl was still safe and keeping up with her pace. Her surrounding group copied her, speeding up.

“Yeah. They have their back turned to me. They’re just up ahead a little but they aren’t in my team unless they’ve got the wrong uniform on. Hey! Two thirty seven?” He called out, his voice growing fainter as he leant away from his mic. “Nah, no response. Hold on, I’ll try going through the channel.” 

“I’ll run up his number,” Melissa offered, whipping out the phone PEIP had issued her. 

Schauffer waited for their mic to crackle back to life. But someone else’s voice came through the emergency comm. “Col, I know this is the emergency channel, but I think we’ve got a problem, I can see-“ he was cut off as the second speaker came back through. 

Schauffer gripped her hand, her eye twitching. Who could the third speaker see? 

“No. No response. They’ve got their back turned. I’m going to approach.” When their audio ended the third speaker came back through.   
“-it can’t be though. Uh, I’ve got a partner closing in. I’ll page our comm, let my team know to close in but keep an eye out.” 

“Is this about Perkins and Matthews? Do not fire!” She was holding her thumb down so hard on the talk button that her thumb was white and the nail was chewing at her skin. “Soldier?” 

Then came the fizzle of the very first speaker, his number flashing up on the panel.

“Soldier!” She snapped. “Answer when you are being called. You scared the shit out of me! What’s the situation?”

But instead of an answer, there came a strained, unclear voice. She couldn’t make out the words until she realised it wasn’t words at all.  
It was singing. 

She could pinpoint the second Melissa figured it out as well. She could actually feel her skin going cold. 

“Soldier?” She tried once more. She was moving faster now. It was almost a run. 

“Colonel!” Melissa suddenly yelped. “Two thirty seven has been reported dead for almost a month!” She shoved her phone into the colonel’s face too closely for her to read. “What does that mean? What’s that mean? Colonel?” Her voice was pitched high with fear.

She paged the second speaker again, not having time to explain her own actions to even herself. “Soldier! Don’t approach the figure. I’m giving you permission to tranq them. Two thirty seven is not on your team!” 

“Two thirty seven? He’s with you?” His voice grew far away again as he called out. “Hey, buddy! You’re in the wrong zone! Head north!” 

Then came speaker three. “Oh my god, it’s actually him!” Their voice was a mix of what seemed like awe and confusion. 

“Paul? Soldier, do not shoot!”

“No, not him! It’s-!” All three mics fell dead when the sound of gunfire rattled off into the sky in the distance. It was so loud they could hear it in their own sector, the distant booming of heavy artillery and the mingled, faint mess of shouts from both men and the Infected. 

“Fucking get a move on!” Schauffer called to her team. “We’re taking the choppers, we need to be in sector A right now!” She made the appropriate gesture with her hand to speed them all up, and she had to trust Melissa was still going to be able to run like she did last week. 

It was a blessing that this girl could keep up with everyone else in PEIP. 

Her radio beeped and buzzed at her, and for a moment only the sound of gunfire and war cry from both sides came through before she heard someone clearing their throat. 

“Colonel Claire Schauffer,” came a familiar, low and husky voice.

Schauffer felt her stomach flip, and she had to run harder to get her heart racing to warm up her body to recover from the chills. 

“Sorry for the interruption, Colonel. Seems you’ve got a bit of a problem on your little old hands. Doubt HQ is going to be happy to hear about that.” 

“What’s he saying? What’s he saying?” Melissa tried to ask, panting too hard to pull apart the words from the sound of gunfire, coming through the mic and then echoing back in real time in the distance. 

“But I’ll cut you a deal, Schauffer. The offer is always open. I’ll be seeing you soon.” The radio fell silent again, and she was certain the transmission was finished until she head something squishing, another blood curdling scream and the cracking and busting of the mic as it was stepped on and destroyed. 

“Who was that? What’s going on?” Melissa tried to ask. 

Schauffer didn’t have time to wait, scooping Melissa up to toss her up into the helicopter the second they were close enough and vaulting up into the chopped herself, straightening her crooked visor.   
“That was our General, General Mcnamara.” 

Melissa seemed a little too upset about being thrown into the helicopter like luggage, and was laying on the floor looking up at Schauffer from where she was upside down. “I thought you shot him.” 

Schauffer grabbed Melissa’s collar to haul her up into a seat, and sat down besides her so she would worry about the risk of her falling out the open doors.

Melissa pressed back into the seats, looking a little out of place between all the PEIP soldiers sardined into the chopper. She held onto Schauffer’s sleeve with her nails dug in, never having gone this fast in a helicopter before. 

She leant forward to grab her headphones from the co-pilot seat, plugging them into her radio and mic, working on trying to page anyone in zone A. “Come in, Zone A,” she snapped, pressing the headphones to her ears so she wouldn’t miss a reply over the chopping of the blades and the gunfire and shouting. 

“Colonel? We need back up!” Someone’s voice came through, cut off just before he could finish the sentence. 

“We’re already on our way! What’s the situation?” 

“I don’t-“ there was a pause, and the sound of a bullet being fired from its chamber. “Shit!” 

The mic cut off. 

Schauffer banged her palm up against it, had hers stopped working? Or was it his? 

They crossed the imaginary border between zone A and B and she felt the helicopter start to slow down.

The firing of guns slowed down, but so did the sound of singing. Soon, it grew so quiet they couldn’t hear it over the whirring of the blades cutting up the air.

“What the fuck?” She cursed, leaning out the open door, holding onto the handle and putting a foot on the landing skid. 

She couldn’t see anything at first as they flew over the street Zone A was supposed to be investigating. 

There were a few figures, tiny in the distance. But the streets were somehow empty, abandoned. Where could a full, twenty person squad vanish to? 

She held a hand to the talk button of her mic to page the pilot. “Lower it down to the roof. I’m checking this out solo. Something’s off.”

“Affirmative.” 

Schauffer got back down on the floor of the helicopter, pulling out the mil spec rescue ladder. “I’m gonna climb down. Stay in the air, prepare for a cas-evac.” 

“Clear. We’ll hover.”

Melissa helped her pull the roll up ladder out. “Are you going down on your own?” 

Schauffer nodded as the helicopter lowered and lowered. “Don’t panic Melissa, but the squad just went MIA. I’m running a quick inspection and I’ll come back safely. Stay in your seat.” 

Melissa nodded, but she stood up when Schauffer did, trying to get a look out the doors as the chopper came down. 

Schauffer blocked her view by standing down on the landing skids again, hooking up the ladder so it dangled down, brushing against the top of the building. It swung and turned in the wind. 

When she caught another glance of the road she could see what was happening. She raised a hand to push Melissa back as the girl leant over her shoulder, blocking her eyes. “No Melissa. Stay in your seat,” she had to exaggerate the annunciation so Melissa could read her lips. She was relieved the sound of the blades covered up the slight panic in her voice, she wasn’t quite sure what she was seeing yet. “Stay put. Don’t look, okay?” She ordered, signalling to the soldier next to her to keep an eye on her. 

She grabbed onto the top of the ladder to stop it twisting as she slowly made her way down, glancing over her shoulder to try and see what she was looking at. 

Still, the ladder spun and danced and twirled and it was taking some core strength to distribute her weight to keep it sturdy. She got down to the bottom rung and let go, dropping the last few feet to the roof. 

She headed over to the side to glance down at the road and held back a grunt. 

It was a war zone. 

Blood, red and blue bathed the streets. What had happened? Scattered about, there were bodies in PEIP uniforms strewn down the pavement. 

It made sense for there to be casualties, the gunfire and screaming could be heard from all the way across town. 

She cautiously made her way down the fire escape, watching her step. She crouched down to inspect the body of a soldier who seemed to have been trying to flee. His body was riddled with bullet holes, his hands gripping onto the steps like he was trying to drag himself up. 

She checked his pulse despite knowing he was most definitely dead. 

“What the fuck?” She stepped around his body. Since when did the Infected have guns? That made things a little unfair. 

But there weren’t supposed to be bodies. Red-blooded bodies anyways. The Infected recycled their corpses into members of the Hive. And as angry as she knew the Hive was at PEIP, that was no reason to not accept a body, especially with their dwindling numbers.

Maybe she had gotten back to work in time. Maybe the Hive was still ill, and a body that destroyed wasn’t worth recycling when their regenerative powers didn’t seem to be keeping up. 

She moved from body to body. There were maybe a dozen or less, maybe some had been infected and the more grotesque had just been left to rot. 

She walked past a man who seemed to have been trampled to death. The muscle and ligaments of his hand were hanging open, the flesh smushed into the cracks in the concrete, melding him to the road.   
She gave the shoulder of the body a kick and the skin ripped at the wrist, the mush that was the hand dropping from the bone so it could stay stuck to the road.  
The imprints of soldier’s boots were branded to his skin.

The air smelt like death, and it was something Schauffer could never forget. The body at her feet had his visor punched in, and she could see the horror in his brown eyes. 

Brown, not blue.

“Jesus Christ, what am I looking at here?” She readied her gun.

They weren’t supposed to use their guns unless it was an emergency, so what the hell transpired here? How could it be something so big and dangerous that it was getting PEIP soldiers to run? Yet something that could vanish in seconds. There was no trace. 

A figure she would recognise anywhere was waiting for her at the end of the street. When she looked up and locked eyes he began to walk closer. 

The thing about uniforms was that it made it impossible to differentiate between each of her members, and most people didn’t try. But her general, she would recognise the build of her general, she would recognise his gait anywhere, she spent most of her time as colonel following after him. 

And it was him. General Mcnamara, his hands behind his back in the parade stance like this was a celebration. His beret was still sitting nearly on his head, his dark curls falling out from beneath. 

But then he started to walk, and it was all wrong. That was more shocking than the bodies or the mystery. His usual, relaxed yet commanding stride was rhythmic and equal like an empty husk carrying out coded orders. This wasn’t her general, it was the Infection. She had to remind herself.   
One of his arms came up to his chest with each stride, but the other was dangling.   
It was the shoulder she had shot him in, and from what Emma had recounted before Paul and the Hive had snatched her from the hospital, Emma had shot him there too. 

Schauffer didn’t make the effort to meet him halfway. He wasn’t her general anymore, this twisted, Infected version of him at least. 

“General Mcnamara,” she greeted him once he was in range, tucking her gun back into its holster but keeping a hand on it. 

“Schauffer,” he tilted his head back to nod at her, not even addressing her by her title. “Look at this mess.” 

And that was what made it click. Schauffer held a hand to her mouth. Maybe she was about to vomit. 

“Your squad went a little bit of the rails, looks like. Is that your responsibility? Want another visit from the Brigadier?” 

When the General had been Infected, he had taken his squad with him. That was almost half a platoon of PEIP soldiers, hell, she had seen them all last time she was here. 

“I don’t suppose you want to be told off again. All this power and you’re still spoken down to like a child. Doesn’t that bother you?” 

It was her squad against his. No one would’ve been able to tell each other apart. Their eyes were covered, they were dressed the same, they were completely indistinguishable. 

“Oh, nothing bothers you, Schauf.”

One thing she hated was people cutting off her title that she busted her ass for. Was it so hard to just call her ‘Colonel Schauffer?’ Her nostrils flared with anger, and the General knew she was getting under her skin. That was what the Hive did. They manipulated their hosts to torture their victims. This wasn’t her General. This wasn’t her General. 

“You’re a stone cold, war machine. You don’t feel things. You aren’t like me.” 

Schauffer steadied her breathing. “What’s your point, John?” If he wasn’t giving her her title, he wasn’t getting his. 

“You care about nothing more than doing your job. It’s respectable, but you lack your heart.” He stepped forward like he was going to reach out and hold her, but she stepped back. 

“You don’t know these men’s names. You won’t go home and mourn them. You don’t know anything about the strength of love.”

Schauffer managed to roll her eyes to brush off the fact she was starting to bite her lip. The General always went on about ‘love and the strength of the human heart.’ And he did live up to his words, he knew the names of all the soldiers in his organisation, he was one of the only people in PEIP to know her first name. He was a bit like an older brother figure to her, one of the only people she really knew. Ands that’s how she could tell this wasn’t right. She began to back up, slowly enough not to alert his suspicion. 

“Without a bit of love, men grow frail, and weak,” he spat the last part, bending down to put a hand on the body he stood next to. “My men cleared out of here long before the end of the fight. Your’s finished each other off. It was a bloodbath. They couldn’t tell who was friend or foe.” 

Schauffer gulped, rooting her feet to the floor. She wasn’t going to flee. She wasn’t a coward.

“And maybe that’s why they question your leadership. Who cares how hard you work? They don’t know who you are. You aren’t angry, you aren’t nice. You just shout orders, and no one cares.”

Schauffer shook her head. That was what made a good Colonel, right? You wouldn’t want to get attached to anyone in a line of business with so many fatalities. She was doing good, that was why she had her title, wasn’t it?

“You’re cold, you’re very cold, Colonel. You just need a bit of love. You need to be more like me. You need to feel something in that heart of yours.” He extended a hand out to her, making his offer. Join the Hive, or what?

“I believe I’m leading this organisation just as I should. This mission has been highly successful under my lead. I’m a fine leader.” She wanted to keep her voice steady. The Hive thrived off fear. Her heart was still beating steadily if a little quick, her stance wide and defensive. 

“And why has it gotten so successful, Colonel?” He stood back up, walking towards her with that out of character, robotic stride. 

Schauffer backed up for every step he took. “Stop walking,” she demanded, showing off the gun on her hip. 

He did as he was told, but he raised one finger to the helicopter up in the air. “Does it have anything to do with her?” 

“John. Why are you talking about her?” That made her heart spike ever so slightly, but she shook off the chills. “Why?”

“That little Secretary you’re keeping an eye on? You want her to be safe don’t you? I’m glad you aren’t entirely emotionless.” 

“Melissa doesn’t have to be part of this. This is between us.” She drew out her gun, pointing it at his forehead. “Sorry, General Mcnamara.” They were all prepared to die in their line of work, her General especially. He would want her to pull the trigger. But she couldn’t. 

“We’re playing this game, are we?” He brushed his hands down on his pants, clearing his throat. “Kids, come play,” he raised his voice to address someone else who was listening in. 

She whipped around, aiming her gun at every possible entrance, spinning around to check behind her as well. 

And then, snarling and twitching like rabid fucking dogs, Paul and Emma made their entrances. They stood behind Mcnamara, but they seemed barely able to contain themselves when they saw her. 

“You!” Paul shouted, lunging forward. Mcnamara held out a hand to stop him, but Schauffer still fired a warning shot above his head. 

“Don’t you dare!” Emma chimed in, her voice not so heavenly and angelic as it was the first time Schauffer heard it. It was ravaged with anger. 

Schauffer lifted her visor off her eyes so she could see them all clearly. 

“We’re happy you want something, Colonel,” the General said, shifting his weight to one leg, looking tauntingly calm despite the gun aimed at his head. “You need to open up your heart a little.” 

“And I can give you a hand with it!” Emma snarled. “I’ll tear you up!” She threatened, trying her hardest to get past McNamara’s outstretched arm, her flats scrabbling at the concrete as she tried to run. 

“You work so hard. I know that, colonel. You could have so much more power with us. But you’re going home to get another scolding from Savant, aren’t you? You just don’t give in.” And suddenly he withdrew his hand from barring Emma back, and the girl bolted at her. 

Schauffer stumbled back, trying to get a shot with her gun, but Mcnamara had grabbed Emma’s collar before she could get very far. 

“Colonel Schauffer. You know I respect you. You know I’ll listen to you.” 

Schauffer grounded herself. It was a high compliment from the General of her organisation. And she knew him, he meant it. But then she looked up at the helicopter, and she knew Melissa was counting on her to get back safely. 

She was calculating in her mind, balancing everything out. The primary option presenting itself here was to take the peaceful option and accept her General’s offer. But it was a stupid option. She wouldn’t. But the second she turned him down he was going to sic the king and queen on her. And she promised Melissa she wouldn’t harm them.   
Everything was about to come down to whether or not she could outrun Paul and Emma. And they were fucking fast. 

She took a big stride backwards. “General Mcnamara. I have respect for my team too,” but she couldn’t bring up any solid examples. “And all the hard work they’re doing. And I have a young girl up there who needs me back safely. If you respect me so much I’d appreciate it if you let me go.” She couldn’t elaborate. She couldn’t let the Hive know Melissa was important to her. Then she was putting Melissa in danger. She took another step back, something Mcnamara was saying was swamped out by the roar of the helicopter blades. 

Schauffer’s hand reached out to wrap around the balustrade of the fire escape. 

“So it’s a no, colonel?” 

“A hard pass, I’m afraid. I’ve got important things to attend to, I can’t be running off for a quick song and dance.” She was marking with her boots, prepping to run if Mcnamara let his hounds off the leash.

“That’s truly unfortunate,” he clicked his tongue, dipping his head. “But you’ll change your mind yet,” he sighed. 

Paul had steadied his angry breathing now, a hungry grin coming to his face because he knew Mcnamara was about to let him have at her. 

With a little bow, Mcnamara shot her one last smile. “We’ll be in touch shortly,” he promised, pulling back his hands and letting Emma and Paul run at her.

And holy shit, they moved fast. Schauffer took off, raking up the staircase, placing all her weight into her hands as she pressed them down on the balustrade to lever herself up as many steps as she could at a time.   
Schauffer’s heart skipped a beat as something crashed into the fire escape somewhere far too nearby, making it rattle and shake and she had to catch the railing to stay upright. She could hear a bark from Paul at the bottom of the stairs by the time she was at the second storey.   
She turned the corner, her boot catching onto the iron bars and making the fire escape screech as it scraped against the brick wall.   
She began to jump, two steps, three steps at a time, Paul and Emma were too fast, they were right at her heels. How could she plan to outrun a hellhound?   
She didn’t have the time to try and aim her gun, and she carried her promise to Melissa in her heart.   
She swerved around the body of the soldier on the steps, her shoe bumping into his head as she skidded on the platform to the third storey.

Paul’s hand shot out across the gaps and snagged Schauffer’s neck. 

She doubled over, slamming her elbow back and hitting something, maybe his shoulder. 

His hand slipped, but it caught her hair instead, yanking her back when she tried to run. 

But then she heard the clatter of footsteps change directions, and a loud crash. The staircase swayed and she reached out to grab onto the balustrade.

Paul whipped around, tearing his hand back along with Schauffer’s hair tie, pulling out her ponytail. 

She managed to catch a glimpse of what had happened as she turned to the rooftop. Emma’s leg must’ve given out on her because she had fallen back down the staircase, smashing into the iron bars.

Paul was down by her side, helping her back up. It was only a dozen seconds of extra time, but those seconds were going to save her life. 

She jumped up to grab the rungs of the helicopter ladder, yanking on them to get the pilot flying, and yanking again when it didn’t move fast enough. 

When it took off, she began to climb but felt some resistance. 

There was a hand holding onto her ankle, pulling her back down. 

Her hand slid a few rungs, trying to grasp onto the ladder that was now moving with the flying helicopter, but whoever was holding her had a strong grasp. 

She hooked her arm tight around the ladder, grabbing her tranq out of her vest pocket. “Adios, you fucking freak.” She must’ve gotten a clean shot, because the hand let go and the helicopter took off. 

She scaled that thing in seconds, stumbling back onto the floor and leaving someone else to pull the ladder up. 

Only when she was laying down on the cool of the helicopter base did the adrenaline actually kick in, and it got her standing right back up. 

She felt Melissa’s familiar hand paw at her, trying to get her in her seat, but instead she grappled on to the head of the pilot’s seat, paging the pilot on her headphones.   
“Sir? What’s your name?” She panted. She didn’t even know it. Mcnamara was right. 

“Uh, my number is-“

“No, your name, Pilot.” He must’ve thought she was going to report him. 

“It’s Carroway, Colonel. Patrick Carroway,” he gave her a concerned look over his shoulder, focussing on flying. 

“You did good. You’ve done real good today, Patrick.” She gave him a pat on the shoulder before letting herself all back onto the bench, shutting her eyes for a second. 

“Colonel,” she opened her eyes to Melissa, who was watching her with deep concern in her round eyes. “Are you okay?” She had to make up most of the words from reading Melissa’s lips. 

Schauffer nodded. “I’m fine.” She knew Mcnamara was hitting where it hurt. The good thing for her was that Schauffer really didn’t feel. He was right about that.  
She wasn’t close with anyone but her career. She had a one track mind, get the job done. She had looked death in the eye without her heartrate going over a hundred. She was an iron built war machine, and she didn’t have time for happiness or sadness or anything except her job. 

But then Melissa held up her arm, a small brown band was on her wrist. “Do you want my hair tie?” She asked, handing it over before Schauffer could even answer. 

And something in her finally broke. Her bottom lip quivered when her jaw dropped, and her eyes were watery. She didn’t know why her heart was suddenly racing this fast. 

But she didn’t take the hairtie, she took Melissa. She pulled the girl into a strong hug, her forehead resting on her shoulder and Melissa’s head to her heart.  
And she just let the cold inside her melt away, patting the small girl’s back. 

Melissa didn’t question, she just wrapped her tiny hands around Schauffer’s broad shoulders in return. 

And that night, when she got home to her office and triple checked that she had locked the door, she sat down in her chair, and she cried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually had a lot of fun writing this chapter so I’d really love to hear what you think!!


	14. Lost for words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Schauffer isn’t good with words so she needs different ways to show gratitude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aka Schauffer has feelings and work to deal with and she wished she had neither

Was Schauffer really that disentangled from her entire team? She was under the impression she was entwined in their lives, she was in the lab constantly, and she ran meetings all the time, she ate lunch at the commons tables! She did all sorts of community activity, she liked her team and her team liked her.  
She was starting to hope so at least. 

She totally wasn’t letting the words of an Infected man get under her skin - she was just debunking them. 

Besides, if she was as cold and distant as Mcnamara had said, then why was she in the Clivesdale supermarket in off-duty hours buying Melissa tea they didn’t serve in the canteen? 

Melissa didn’t even ask, she had just mentioned missing it, and so Schauffer left at 6:30 to pick it up before she woke up. 

Schauffer wasn’t good with words at all, but she figured buying Melissa a tea she had mentioned liking was a good way to say thank you for helping her work. 

She was wedged into line on the only counter open, a man with a shopping cart full of groceries was in front of her and a mother with a sleepy, wailing child stood behind her. This early in the morning, everything else was in complete silence. 

She stood there, grasping the box of teabags in her scuffed hands. She kept her eyes on the floor so she didn’t look too paranoid, and tried to let her shoulders slouch for once. Maybe she should really heed his words, and not be such a machine. She felt vulnerable with her back slumped and her sneakers pointed in, she didn’t like it.

The clerk was checking items through with a rhythmic beeping of the machines that made Schauffer’s heart tick. She sort of wanted to grab the clerk by the throat just to throw off his pace. 

“Will that be all for today sir?” The cashier asked. His voice was quiet and mumbley. The people of Clivesdale knew there was something going on in Hatchetfield, and those who didn’t evacuate were trying to catch rumours. 

“Good morning ma’am, how are you?” He raises his voice a little just to grab Schauffer’s attention. 

She gave a small, mute nod and held up the box of tea in one hand for him to scan. “That’s all, thanks.” She handed over a five dollar bill and collected her change, shoving it into her pants pocket. She really hoped Melissa would like the tea. 

Driving back to HQ, the streets were empty. There was no one left in this part of Clivesdale. All because she was waging war on that tiny little town across the channel. 

Back at the officers, soldiers were starting to stir, waking early for noncom rolls fifteen minutes prior to fifteen minutes prior, that was the military standard. But things were getting sloppy, a little more casual. Her platoon had been here for a little more than a month and she clearly wasn’t enforcing anything well enough. 

“Good morning, colonel,” someone stopped her in the hall and she hid the tea box behind her back.

“Good morning, soldier,” she dipped her head to him and intended to walk on but he cleared his throat. 

“Were you coming this morning?” 

“Coming where?” She asked. Maybe she was too reliant on Melissa for her schedule, she was only expecting to take a task force or two out and check in at the rehabilitation accomodation. 

“Uh,” he put a hand across his chest, lowering his head anxiously. “Me and a couple of the boys were going to throw together a little memorial for some of the guys,” he scratched his neck. “I think it would be an honour to have the colonel show up if you had the time.” 

This was the first she had heard of it, did they not think she would care? She found herself shifting her weight back and forth between her feet, just as nervous. “I’ll be there,” she promised. “We’ve lost some very fine men.” She didn’t even know any of their names, but she wanted to make an effort to fix that. “It’s good of you to pull this together for them,” she gave his shoulder a pat. “What’s your name, soldier?” 

“Rowe,” he dipped his head a little, his cheeks flushing just a little red from the attention from his colonel. 

“Well good job, Rowe. I’ll be there.” When they parted ways she sighed, clicking her tongue. She should’ve been the one to come up with it. As willing as they all had to be to die in the line of duty that didn’t mean anyone was okay with it. 

She gripped onto the tea box. She just had to start trying harder to be human, to pay attention to what was going on with each individual soldier, not just as a whole. 

“Good morning, Melissa,” she opened her office door, it was already unlocked. 

Melissa’s cat let out a meow when she entered, pouncing down off the table Melissa was working at. “Morning, Colonel!” She gave a cheery greeting, her fingers tapping away at her keyboard, already getting things done. 

“Good morning,” she ran her fingers through her ponytail, feeling a little sheepish. “Here you are,” she put the tea down on the table, her eyes fixed on Melissa’s face for her reaction. 

“Oh, is this tea?” She picked it up. “Oh, it’s the lavender kind! I like this tea, where’s you get it from?” She picked it up to look at the box. 

“I just had to go to the shops today anyways, it’s not- it’s just, you were talking about it the other day.” 

“You were at the shops at 7 in the morning?” Melissa chuckled. “Colonel, the closest shop that’s still open is on the other side of town! What did you need that badly? How much was the tea? I’ll pay you back.” She put it aside. 

“I just had to go there for stuff,” Schauffer couldn’t believe she was stammering. “It’s confidential,” she snapped to correct herself. “And you don’t have to pay me back, it’s just a gift. You said you liked strawberry tea. Is it your favourite?” 

“Peach tea is my favourite actually, but lavender tea is the only tea Paul ever drank in high school because he could never get to sleep, so I was just kinda nostalgic for it. This is nice, thanks colonel!” She smiled. “I’ll have some of that tonight I think.” 

Schauffer felt her hands go cold and the feeling spread up her arms slowly, coursing its way to her heart and her head. What an idiot, she should’ve just asked first instead of trying with this surprise bullshit. It always backfired on her. “I can go and get some peach tea,” she announced. “I have to go to the shops again anyways tonight so it wouldn’t be a big deal.” 

“Ppftt, you don’t need to get me any tea, Colonel. I don’t want to trouble you. Besides, I was going to hang out with Charlotte and Ted tonight anyways,” she waved her hand. 

Schauffer bumped her fists on top of each other once. “Well I hope you have a good time,” she told her stiffly, waiting in silence for Melissa to say something. 

“Did you wanna go down to the canteen and get something to eat for breakfast? There’s a memorial going on in a little bit and I wanted to go to it,” she placed absently with her hair, already having lost interest in the tea. “Trevor was organising it.” 

Schauffer didn’t know why, but she couldn’t seem to find the words to say. “Rowe,” she corrected.

“Yeah, Trevor Rowe. That’s his last name.”

“You were already invited?” Schauffer asked, feeling the power in her wide stance diminishing. 

Melissa nodded, closing up her laptop and standing up. “Yeah, last night after we got back when you went to go work in your office. Gosh, and I thought I was a workaholic,” she elbowed Schauffer as she walked by her. “Come on, breakfast?” 

Schauffer nodded silently, following after Melissa as if she was scared she’d slip away if she left her alone. Her words were failing her. “Of course I’m coming to the memorial too,” she managed to state. Surely Melissa didn’t think she was going to skip it too. 

“Yeah, I figured word must have already gotten around to you. You’re the colonel, colonel,” she giggled. “You’re in charge.” 

Schauffer tapped a palm against her cold heart. She was the colonel, why did she only find out now? Why did Melissa find out first? She was growing tense, finding it impossible to stay still. Right now she wished she had just shot the General in the head. She could’ve gone her whole life without an identity crisis. 

She wasn’t cold and unfeeling, she did care for her platoon more than her mission, and she had to prove it.  
But she wouldn’t confess that she only needed to prove it to Melissa.  
Nothing else had mattered except the mission until she had gotten to know the people involved, and the people involved started getting to know her.  
She had to try harder. She was going to.

“What’re you thinking about? You’re looking pensive today,” Melissa commented as she unstuck a serving tray from the pile, handing it to her. 

“I’m going to make a speech at the memorial,” she told her. “Thinking about what to say.” 

“Oh!” Melissa tilted her head her way as they moved down the canteen line. “That’s really nice, are you sure you can do it?” 

“Do you think I can’t?” She bit back a retort. “I’m the colonel and it’s my responsibility to be there.” 

Melissa nodded, thanking the canteen lady as her breakfast was slopped onto her tray. She hovered to wait for Schauffer. “I think it’s more of a moral responsibility really. I think we should all be going regardless of rank. Trevor only thinks you’d come as a status symbol.” She murmured the last part like she knew she shouldn’t say it. 

Schauffer stiffened her upper lip. “Well I’ll be there.” She thanked the lunch lady too, and lead Melissa over to a spare spot at a table in the corner. Schauffer sat at the end, focussing in on her thoughts. Now she really had to think of something to say, and she barely knew them. 

There was a pang of bitterness and jealously in her heart when Melissa began to chat to the soldier next to her, but she did need her time to think. She couldn’t go up there with a half assed, winged speech. That would be worse than no speech at all. 

She stabbed her fork into her scrambled eggs. Why was it so hard? Why couldn’t she just put words into her head? Why was it all so blank? She hated it, she hated that, she hated herself. She brought her fork up so she could stab it back down. She must really be a shitty colonel. She just had to say something, anything. Just say sorry, just say the soldiers were a great addition to the team that will be hard to replace. Just say words, god, it should not be this hard. No, don’t say replace, they can’t be replaced. Why did she tell Melissa she was going to make a speech? She was going to mess it all up, she wasn’t good with voicing her thoughts.  
She pressed her fork down, cutting through the pile of eggs until it touched the bottom of the tray, she kept pushing, staring dead ahead and burning a hole in the wall with her gaze. 

“Colonel!” Melissa had turned around to put a gentle hand on her arm. “What’re you doing?” 

Schauffer couldn’t stop her muscles from driving the fork into the tray, but she did manage to tear her gaze away. “I’m preparing the speech. In my head.” 

“What’s this stabbing business for?” Melissa questioned, putting both of her hands around Schauffer’s to pry the fork out. “It’s okay, I’m not really hungry either. I’ve sort of lost my appetite thinking about the memorial, it’s really sad.” 

Shit. She tossed her fork down on the tray. That’s why she shouldn’t be eating, not because she was working on a speech too hard. She was starting to get mad, why couldn’t she feel things? Why didn’t she just know what to do? “I’ve got to go get ready,” she still had her civilian clothes on from going to the shops, and people in the canteen were giving her funny looks. “I’ll meet you there, Melissa.” 

She didn’t have much time to think, she wanted to look something up online, but the trouble she would get in if anyone found out. Schauffer didn’t want to be insensitive, but language was never her strong suit. It was hard for her to believe it now but she used to be the quiet kid in class. 

Melissa’s cat mewled at her when she shut her office door and she squatted down to say hello to it. “Don’t know what you’re crying about,” she stroked its head with one finger. “You don’t have to give a speech at a funeral. You’re just a cat.” 

It arched its back to rub against Schauffer’s leg and she put a hand down so she wouldn’t lose her balance. “So we’re friends now are we?” She chuckled, going in to give the cat another pat but receiving a hiss instead. “Alright!” She stood up again. Apparently she couldn’t even get along with a cat. 

She put her uniform, but came to a bit of a halt in the process. She didn’t know whether or not to wear her tactical vest, coming out of uniform could be disrespectful but coming armed would probably be bad too.

“Colonel? Are you coming?” Melissa leaned in through the office doors. “It’s starting.” 

“Should I wear my vest?” 

“Uh,” Melissa blinked. “You’re the colonel you can do whatever you like, maybe don’t wear it, you don’t have any task forces on right now. But come on, we should be on time.” 

“On time?” She shot a look at her watch. On time meant they were already late. She grabbed Melissa’s wrists to lead her to the hall. 

“Did you get your speech ready?” Melissa asked, trying to keep conversation casual despite the way Schauffer was almost dragging her along. 

She had spent too long on her tactical vest dilemma to workshop it any further. Wow, of course this had to happen today of all days. “I’ve got something short,” she lied. 

And maybe something short would’ve cut it if it was a small group, but it looked like the whole platoon had been jammed in there. 

It was simple enough, with the soldiers dog tags hanging up on the stage next to the podium. There wasn’t much happening but a few people gave her smiles for coming. 

“Is someone else going to speak?” She asked Melissa in a whisper.

“I think maybe Trevor will, did you wanna go first?” 

Schauffer nodded, and Melissa pushed her off into the crowd in the direction of the stage for her to find her own way. 

“Oh hey, Schauffer!” She heard Taylor call her.

The scientist was lingering about in the centre of the crowd, sticking by the doctor. But they turned to face the colonel as they saw her coming over. “It’s good you showed up. I think that’ll mean a lot to the guys,” they titled their head in the direction of the dog tags on the stage. 

“I’m going to make a speech,” she told Taylor. 

Taylor gave an awkward laugh. “You are? What’re you gonna say?” 

She blanked. “I’ll say they were brave men.” 

“Well, one of them was a girl so don’t say that,” Taylor eyed up the crowd quickly to make sure no one was watching and put a hand on the colonel’s shoulder to pull her away from the center of the crowd and off to the side. “Schauffer, I was sort of under the impression you weren’t a very emotional person. I don’t know if anyone is expecting you to give a speech, this isn’t a formal event, it’s a memorial not a funeral. We’re just here to, you know, talk about them, and you didn’t know them too well.” 

Schauffer found one hand reaching up to the bottom of her ponytail to play with it as subtly as she could. “I told Melissa I was going to make a speech.”

Taylor ran a hand through their hair, wincing. “Well that’s fine, man. I mean, you aren’t exactly the most emotional person in the world, but-“

“Uh, hi everyone,” came an unsure voice from the podium, his voice sending a crackle through the microphone. “Thanks for coming, the guys would be really happy to see this turn out.” 

Taylor and Schauffer stuck to the walls as Rowe began his speech. 

“They all used to joke about how many people would come to their funerals, I think we’re all pretty aware of how easy it is to die in this job, but I don’t think these guys were expecting it so soon. You never think it’ll be you, right?”

There was a murmur of approval among the crowd. 

“But they wouldn’t want us to linger on it, so I didn’t want to do anything too big. We’ve lost fifteen of our finest soldiers to this mission, but it’s to protect the greater world and they died heroes.”

The murmur was louder this time, grumbles and growls, the infamous names of Matthews and Perkins being tossed around angrily. It quickly rose to snarls and shouts, one angry cry for revenge, curses at this stupid mission, until Rowe cleared his throat and tapped the microphone. 

“It’s important to remember what this mission is all about. We’re studying an infection, and we can’t really hold it against any individual. This infection is something much bigger, and with a lot of great work though we’re doing our job,” he was dancing back and forth on his feet, nervous to get too emotional. “We’ve gotten close with everyone during our time here. We eat our meals together, we watch each other’s backs when we’re out in the field, we’re all really good friends so this is a loss that hurts.”

“Oofh,” Schauffer leant back against the wall, shutting her eyes. She didn’t know that was happening. 

Taylor gave her a small swat with their hand to say it was okay. 

“So it’s rough to lose some good soldiers and officers today. They did all they could, and there was just nothing we could have done about it. We can’t blame ourselves.”

Staring down at the ground, Schauffer’s eye twitched. They could’ve done something actually. If the soldiers had just heeded her warnings, a lot of this could’ve been avoided. 

When she shifted, Taylor gave her a warning look to tell her not to speak up. 

“But uh, I think-“ he paused to scan the room, his eyes setting on her. “Colonel Schauffer has come to pay some respects too, and they would have all been pretty honoured by that.” 

It felt like her heart was making a fist. His whole speech was excluding her, they didn’t expect her to come. She wasn’t involved in this month of camaraderie and bonding. She held up a small hand to wave back at the soldier. 

“So, thanks for all coming. I know we only have an hour of free time before the task forces set out so, thanks for being here.” He was awkward in the way he spoke, unpracticed with showing emotion. He gave a small, improper salute before stepping down from the podium to let the chatter commence again.

Schauffer rolled up her sleeves, clearing her throat.

“Do you really want to do this?” Taylor asked. “I get the feeling that the past few days you’ve been a little rattled up. This is a hard and scary job and it can be frightening and it’s okay to need a moment to process it but-“ 

Schauffer cut them off. “Nope! I’m not shaken up!” She batted Taylor’s hand away. “I’m the colonel, I don’t get shaken up.” And she never was up until yesterday. She steadied her breathing, she didn’t want to go up there and have her hands shaking. All she had to do was say a couple of words, then she could get to work.

“It’s okay to be a little shaken, Schauffer. But I don’t think you need to do this. It won’t make you feel better,” Taylor tried again, but Schauffer hushed them, pushing them to the side so they could make their way to the podium. 

“Hello, everyone,” she cleared her throat and everyone turned to look at her, confusion written on their faces.

On one side of the room, Melissa gave her a small wave and a thumbs up, on the other, Taylor was watching on with a pale face and a dropped jaw. 

“I’d like to say uh, thank you Soldier Rowe for organising something like this for all the great men-“ no, not all men, “the great soldiers we’ve lost in our efforts.” 

There was some sort of murmuring and she didn’t know whether it was good or bad. 

“We lost them all in the line of duty. I know I myself was with Sergeant Jeffery in his last moments.” She widened her stance to play off the anxious tapping of her feet.

People didn’t seem to know that. She had been quiet about it when it first happened. A lot of people raised a brow or turned to the person next to them to question it

“It’s very tragic, and even though we should all expect it we just don’t.” She wasn’t quite looking at Taylor, but could tell they were shaking their head in her peripheral vision. What had she just said wrong? “Well, it’s not, uh, it’s not something we ever think will happen so it’s hard to accept it when it does. Thank you all for coming to pay your respects to our team.” She bumped her fist against the podium, scanned the audience once more and then took off, melting back into the audience where she was indistinguishable among the sea of black uniforms. 

“Oh Schauffer,” Taylor caught her before she could get to the door, and the moment the tense silence was broken the hall seemed to erupt with their opinions, louder tenfold than before. 

“What?” 

“Good job,” they offered up a weird smile. “Yeah. That did the job.” 

That could never be anything good. “Meaning?” 

“Meaning it did the job, Schauffer.” They gave her one last pat on the back and an odd thumbs up before making a not very subtle effort to get as far away from the colonel as they could. 

Melissa gave a bit of a tense laugh when they reunited as well, the soldiers she was talking to departing as soon as Schauffer showed up. “I liked your speech,” she tried to start. “It was, well, you said what had to be said, right?” 

Schauffer’s nose scrunched up with a little bit of anger. “What else should I have said?” 

“Oh, Colonel, don’t think about it like that. Come on, we’re supposed to visit the secondary lab and the rehab accomodation today. And what’s the thing you always like to say about arriving early?” She linked arms with the stronger woman to forcibly lead her out of the hall. 

“The saying is fifteen minutes prior to fifteen minutes prior,” she explained a little snappily. “Soldiers are supposed to arrive fifteen minutes early than the assigned time, so the early time became the new time so they have to arrive fifteen minutes earlier to that, and it’s all really because they have to be there before the rank above them, which is always going to be me! But apparently we’re getting ‘casual’ around here!” She didn’t like being made fun of, and there was definitely something happening behind her back. It pissed her off. 

“Um, well I don’t think it really matters around here. We’re a close group, there’s only about one hundred of us.” 

“A close group?” She echoed. “Since when?”

“Oooh Colonel,” she trailed off anxiously. “Come on. Let’s just get going.” She tugged a little harder at her arm. 

“No,” she snorted. “If things are so casual then what does it matter how early I arrive? I need to go to my office and write out a memo anyways. I’ll just meet you there whenever I decide to show up.” 

“Colonel,” Melissa ran a hand through her long hair, her eyes diverting. “Why’re you acting like this?” 

“Well I’m acting like everyone else, aren’t I?”

“Why are you trying to change yourself?” Melissa asked, scuffing her shoes against the floor and not really keeping her voice up anymore. She preferred Schauffer to be strong and protective, this behaviour was sort of pathetic, it was scary.

“I’m not changing myself,” Schauffer pressed. “I’ve just got other work to do first. I’ll be in my office.” She unlinked her arm from Melissa and turned on her heels, leaving her behind and heading to her office. 

Her head was a whirlwind of emotions she had never dealt with. She was angry and bitter and jealous and sad and disappointed in herself and her platoon. It was like the floodgates on her repressed emotions had exploded after what her General had said to her. Infected or not, it changes such a work-driven woman to have her idol berate her like that. 

She sat down at her laptop, definitely not in a state to be writing out a mass memo for the communication board, but these feelings were new, and she was yet to learn not to let her anger drive her. 

Only five minutes after she was done was there a frantic knocking at her door. It had to be Melissa she hoped, but it was Taylor. And the second the door opened they barrelled in, phone in hand. “Colonel Schauffer,” they began, their face slack with shock. “You need to delete this post like, immediately.” 

“No I don’t,” she crossed her arms, sitting up in her chair with her shoulders back. She was the colonel, she could do what she liked apparently. 

“No, colonel, oh my god, this is the email equivalent of drunk texting your ex, for real.”

“What?” 

“Just delete it, I’m serious. I know I’m not supposed to order you around but you need to delete that message before anyone else sees it.”

Well that frightened her a little. If it was anything that bad she could let Melissa see it if she hadn’t already. Schauffer wasn’t really tech savvy, but her fingers were working at a mile a minute to withdraw the post from the platoon’s forum, and she waited on the edge of her seat for Taylor to just explain what was so wrong. The red hot anger in her chest was replaced by a numbing white fear. 

“Schauffer, you can’t be sending out uniform and rule reminders straight after a memorial. It’s a little insensitive to be telling everyone to ruck up when fifteen people have just died!” 

Oh, well Schauffer didn’t think it was that bad. A little inappropriate in hindsight, but not the most heinous thing. But Taylor didn’t look like they were done. 

“I really hate to dog pile on you when you’ve been down lately, but it’s um, how do you say in professional military terms, a big fucking oofh?” Taylor’s hands were clenched and held out to their sides, Schauffer could see their chest actually heaving.

“A what?” She hates the way she was being spoken down to, and wasn’t in the headspace to make it easy. 

“I’m wondering if there’s a military equivalent term to something being the worst possible thing ever,” their hands shook. “Oh, here we go. Here’s something you might be able to get through your head, no offence Colonel, but this is a fugazi of a situation, politely.” 

“How bad could it be? I didn’t say anything untrue in there!” She pointed at her screen as if Taylor needed to read it again. 

“That’s the problem! You need to tone down the blunt honesty! Like uh, for example, directly implying all those deaths would have been preventable if we had listened to you more closely!?” 

“Well they would have been!” Schauffer insisted. 

“Doesn’t matter! You can’t blame the dead, Schauffer! Not publicly anyways!” Taylor waved their phone in their hand before tossing it down on Schauffer’s desk. “Schauffer, I know you aren’t being yourself right now,” they toned their voice right down like they were scolding a child. “But everyone is torn up about their friends, and telling them it’s their fault isn’t gonna be received very well,” they nodded slowly. “Now isn’t the time to be feeling doubtful about your power. Having an identity crisis in the middle of a life or death mission is rough, sweetheart, I get it.” 

“I don’t think you do get it, you graduated five years ago,” she pulled back with a bit of disgust to let Taylor know this was an inappropriate way to talk to their colonel. “I’m not having an identity crisis.”

“Yeah, but you are. And that’s okay. You can even come to my dorm tonight to talk about it if you need, I’d really love to give you a hand, but you can’t vent post online,” they scooped their phone back up. “We just have to hope no one else really saw it.” 

“Well it was true isn’t it? If people just respected me and listened to me then we wouldn’t have these accidents,” she declared, rather certain of herself.

Taylor drew both their hands through their hair so it created a little curtain around their eyes. They groaned before brushing it all away. “Look, you’re a middle aged war machine, you seem like the perfect audience to repress emotion,” they punctuated their sentence by clapping with the last 2 words. “So just trust me on this, and try to keep a low profile for a bit until your feelings are back in line, it’s for the best.” 

Schauffer huffed and sank into her seat, dropping one hand down on a pile of paperwork Melissa had set aside for her today. She didn’t want to argue with Taylor, Taylor seemed to know what they were talking about. 

“Listen. When things go wrong people will always shift the blame to something they can take their anger out on, and it’ll go right up the line until someone can resurrect things,” they swung their hands by their side. “I’ve been hearing things, Schauffer,” they tapped one ear. “I’m not supposed to say. But it’ll be best for you if you keep on the down low about things.” 

“Thank you, Officer,” she raised one hand in a weak wave to see them off. “Low profile it is.” 

“Thank you, Colonel. This’ll be good for you, promise,” they knew their whole yell had overstepped very clear boundaries, even when the whole platoon was growing slacker. They dipped their head to apologise and backed out, closing the door quietly. 

Feeling things was hard, Schauffer decided. She rested her head down on her stack of papers to just try and get a moment of peace but their clock beeped and they had to make their way down to the secondary lab to meet Melissa. Despite her meltdown, she still arrived fifteen minutes prior. 

“Ready to go inside?” Melissa asked, taking shuffling steps backwards from the colonel. 

“Let’s start with the rehab accom,” Schauffer’s nose twitched. There weren’t going to be nearly as many soldiers over there. 

“Oh, no problem. Yeah, I’d like to see everyone too!” She brightened up a little bit. “I can’t wait to see the look on Deb’s face when she hears we got Alice back!” She cheered. 

“You two were close when you were in quarantine, weren’t you?” She remembered. Suddenly she found herself wanting to leave Deb’s visit until last, just so she could have Melissa’s attention a moment longer. 

They crossed the grassy field surrounding HQ. It was a currently abandoned hotel that had been transformed into the accomodation for patients of the Infection just to keep them nearby and checked in on. 

Schauffer was mostly silent aside from the probing questions Melissa was asking, trying to survey her mood. 

“Is there anyone you wanna see first?” She asked. 

“Just whoever happens to be there.” 

“You like some of them though don’t you?” 

She shrugged. “It’s just my job, Melissa. I’ll debrief with anyone who needs it. You can go play if you need.”

“Hah. I don’t play when I’m on the clock. I’ll be right by your side!” 

Schauffer stalled her breath, her walk transforming into a march out of habit. She had no clue whether Melissa was her friend or just an employee who listens. 

“Colonel!” She let out a squawk and tried to keep up, running ahead a little bit to open up the doors to the hotel. 

The atmosphere was distinctly different to the headquarters, and it made Schauffer pause to take in a breath.

The walls were painted a light shade of yellow and lively and cheerful people were running about in colourful uniforms- no, just clothes, and they were laughing and patting each other on the back and sitting down in the lobby together. 

She must have stumbled back because she bumped into Melissa and the girl squeaked. “Sorry, Melissa,” one hand reached out to find her to pat her on the back. 

“Did you wanna start on floor one? I’ll tell everyone to report to their rooms so we can get through it all faster,” she hugged her clipboard to her chest. 

People should’ve been heading to their rooms for check in the moment they saw Schauffer walk in, but now she didn’t want to scare them off.  
“Oh, no no, just...” she took it all in. The air smelt like buffet breakfast foods and fresh air. The lights overhead were a warm orange instead of the sterile white of the offices. Things were a bit disorderly, but it was nice. “Yes, go ahead, alright.”

Melissa nodded and clapped one hand up against the backing of her clipboard to gain some attention as she walked ahead into the lobby. “Okay guys! We’re doing a check in! You guys get to talk to the colonel today so get excited for the debrief!” 

A mother scooped up her son under her arm, a girl grabbed her friend by the arm, the men sitting on the couches finished up their chat. Things came together in their own time, and slowly the lobby cleared out in no particular rush. 

“Alright, room one, huh?” Melissa gave her a little smile as they walked. “What’re you thinking about? This is your first time checking this place out isn’t it?” 

Schauffer nodded. “It’s just very different to the headquarters.” 

“Oh absolutely. I love it over here. We have a lot of fun!” She knocked on the first door, rocking back and forth on her feet patiently. “This is Mr. Davidson’s room,” she nudged her. 

“Ah, that’s why you’re smiling,” Schauffer nodded. 

The door opened up, and Mr. Davidson came out in a hotel robe and a smile. “Melissa!” 

Melissa gave a salute as if to remind him she had climbed above him on the social ladder now. “Good morning, Mr Davidson! We’re here for the parole check in! How are you doing this morning?” 

“Good morning, Mr Davidson,” Schauffer chimed in with a dip of her head. “No urges to sing or dance at all?” She asked. 

“Nope, if it were up to me I wouldn’t even be leaving this bed! This hotel has got to be five stars.” 

“It’s not a hotel sir, this is currently a rehabilitation centre and not a holiday,” she corrected him before holding out a hand to shake. “I’d like to take a moment to apologise personally though, things weren’t quite set up right and you four wound up in Quarantine much longer than you should have.” 

“Oh!” He held his hands up as if shaking hands with her was unnecessary. “You’re the colonel, and you’ve got quite a hefty task on your shoulders,” he chuckled. “I bet it’s the last of your issues, not a problem ma’am.” 

“Oh, no. Civilian safety is very important to us, we should have had something prepared for you,” she shook her head, returning her hand behind her back.

“Well over here we all think you must be doing a very good job! A couple days ago my wonderful wife was let out of quarantine and we’ve been down in the buffet every morning sharing our breakfast! You must be doing some hard work!” 

“Oh, well,” she was forced to look down as a warm blush dusted her cheeks. “It’s just my job, sir. Happy to hear you’ve been doing well.” 

“Yes! And Melissa, how have you been?” 

Schauffer wished he would keep away from the casualty, this was a check in not a hang out. But part of her didn’t want to disturb him and so she didn’t. That was all a little bit of harmless deviancy certainly, it was okay if they were behind on schedule by a few minutes. 

“I’ve been pretty great! This is a super interesting job but I think I’ll be glad to come back to CCRP when all this is over. It’s a little tiring!”

“Oh, you’re coming back?” Mr Davidson put his hands on his hips, leaning his back against the doorframe. 

“Yeah, the colonel says I’m only working here while the mission is underway. But, you know. I don’t think I could do this all my life anyways,” she snickered. “Right, Colonel?” She elbowed her. 

Schauffer had forgotten that part. And the mission was moving ahead so smoothly and quickly, Melissa wasn’t going to be here forever. “Well,” she didn’t know what else to say. 

“Yeah,” Melissa turned back to Mr Davidson. “I’ll be back in the office. But honestly, I want a raise for hooking you up with this sweet hotel block. I chose it you know, I’m basically running the place.” 

“Don’t get cocky, Melissa,” she warned. “You’re doing a good job but don’t get ahead of yourself.” Schauffer wanted to move to the next room as soon as possible.

“Hahah, yeah. Sorry Mr Davidson, I was kidding. I’m coming back regardless, but anyways, we gotta keep moving! Colonel Schauffer likes things done on time!” They had a long goodbye so Schauffer decided to move onto door two whilst she was waiting. 

Behind door two was Deb, she should have figured. They had been organised by their date of quarantine, although that did leave the question of where Danny and Sof had been shoved off to. For all she knew those two could still be sneaking about the PEIP halls causing chaos. 

“Hey,” Deb leant half way through the door to block the colonel from coming in. 

“Miss Knight,” she began, sensing she was a little hostile. “We’re doing parole, did you hear we secured your partner for you?” 

Deb nodded, a smile tugging at her lips before vanishing. “I heard, duh. She’s in quarantine and the people in the lab won’t let me in to see her.” 

“Well that’s because it’s quarantine, Miss Knight,” she coughed, maintaining an awkward eye contact. “She’ll be out by noon and put into a room upstairs.” 

“Can’t she move into my room?” 

“Well I take it all the rooms have been organised by dates of quarantine, she can visit but she’ll have to be upstairs in her room during parole,” she explained. 

Deb raised an eyebrow. “You ‘take it?’ Do you not know? Aren’t you like, the General or something?” 

“No, only the Colonel,” she shuffled back from the door, glancing over at Melissa to tell her to hurry up and take over. Clearly she was lacking in the social relations department. 

“Oh, that’s...” Deb looked like she was stopping herself before she could say anything too harsh. “Yeah, y’know. What’re you here for?” 

Melissa managed to skip over just in time, taking over the conversation to allow Schauffer her thinking time. Deb was a teenager, rebellious at that from what she had gathered. Still, she had to be kind, she promised herself she was going to get involved. And apparently the other people in quarantine seemed to really like her already! 

“Uh, Colonel,” Deb lingered in the doorway, calling her back as Melissa lead the way on to door three. “Can I have a word for a moment?” 

She nodded. “Yes, Miss Knight?” 

“When Alice is let go she’s really gonna want to see her dad. D’you know if he’s already here? Bill?” 

The name didn’t ring any bells, but it wasn’t like she knew everyone in Hatchetfield just yet. “I don’t believe so, Miss Knight.” 

She sighed and groaned, knocking her head against her hand. “Well can you keep an eye out for him? I just want her to be alright once she settles in. Like, I couldn’t care less about my shitty parents, but she loved her dad a lot so I figured... yeah. Oh, and also, he worked with Paul too, they were like best friends. So he would probably have some good shit on him.”

“I’ll look up his profile and tell squads to keep an eye out for him. Thank you very much for that, Deborah. That’s some very valuable information.” 

“Thanks, don’t call me Deborah,” Deb snickered, giving a crooked smile as she shut the door. 

Schauffer liked this. She felt more useful than sitting in her office signing papers. Now she could see first hand what she was signing them for. And as they went from door to door and floor to floor Schauffer was only greeted with more smiles and compliments.

“I like that smile,” Melissa covered her lips with her hand to cover her grin. “Do you like it? I figured this might be a good break for you from the soldiers. Regular people really respect the military because we don’t have a clue what you guys do. Well I guess this isn’t the military, it’s um, like that film, men in black.”

“A good break from what?” Schauffer asked. “Field work is what I do best. And if Taylor’s been telling you yesterday had me shaken up tell them they don’t know what they’re talking about!” 

“Oh, ahaha,” her laugh was very forced and unnatural. “Yeah. Let’s just-“ she cut her sentence short to hop ahead and knock on the next door. 

“Ah! The colonel herself!” It was Emma’s father. She had never actually stopped to learn his first name. 

“Mr Perkins! Just running a check in,” she told him, because Melissa had shied away at the sight of him, hiding behind Schauffer. “No urges to sing or dance?”

“Nope, it’s all clear here Colonel,” he dipped his head. “How’s your work been going? You been looking after yourself?”

“Oh!” She blushed. No matter how many people had asked her that today it still made her grin. “Yes sir, I can assure you. We’re hard at work, we’re going to bring your daughter home safely soon.”

He looked confused for a second before gasping and nodding. “Oh, Emma? Hah, you’re funny colonel! I thought you were talking about my other daughter for a second.” 

“Your other?” She asked. Behind her, Melissa was fiddling anxiously with the straps of Schauffer’s tactical vest. “Do you have another child?” 

“Oh, no colonel. Not anymore. I thought you had brought her back! Now listen, Emma’s a lost cause. I wouldn’t even bother.”

“Oh no sir, we’re quite committed to bringing back everyone safely,” she promised. 

“Didn’t you say she’s been raising hell? She’s been that way since she was young and god, colonel, she won’t stop with a vaccine. She’s been terrified of needles too, good luck getting anywhere near her with one.” He paused his ramble to laugh. “Doctors used to have to hold her down just to get them!” 

“Well I’m sure we’ll manage,” Schauffer sniffed, clenching her teeth. “Your daughter sounds like she’s capable of quite a lot.” 

“Don’t get too excited about her. She’s all bark and no bite. But I can see you’re busy, so I’ll let you get back to your work. I’ll see you soon Colonel, have a real great one!” 

He closed the door and when he did so Schauffer took a step back, knocking into Melissa who was still behind her. 

She yelled and held a hand to her head where Schauffer had crashed into her. 

“Melissa!” Schauffer apologised. “I forgot you were standing there. Are you alright?”

“Yeah um, I just really don’t like that man. He’s very rude to his daughter,” she rubbed her head. 

“No, I meant about the bump.”

Melissa nodded. “Yeah, it was nothing. Uh...” she trailed off as she glanced at the clock on the wall. “Oh gosh! Look at that!” She pointed. “We’re just about to sign off, you have to be back at the office to lead the noon patrol off, and then you can send your daily report.”

“Oh, yes. I was getting carried away. Let’s stick to the schedule. I’ll finish the rest tomorrow.” 

Melissa was quiet as they walked, and she hoped it wasn’t anything she had done. Eventually she fell quiet too, recounting the day in her mind for all the things that could’ve upset the young girl. 

“I’ve gotta go this way now,” Melissa stopped her at the hallway between the offices and the lab. “I was gonna do an ID check for the lot the morning patrol brought in and by the time you’re back from the noon task force I’ll probably be heading out to meet the gang for dinner.” 

“Charlotte and Ted?” 

“I collected a few more along the way today,” she admitted with a giggle, starting to back up down the hallway to head on her way. “Mr Davidson and Deb too, one or two soldiers and officers, and-“

“So it’s a party?” 

“Oh no, it’s not! It’s just like, a small thing. It’s just dinner and a chat. I’ll see you later?”

“Tonight?” 

“Somewhere between then and tomorrow, yeah,” she had backed so far down the hallway that she had to start cupping her hands around her mouth to project her voice. “Have a safe trip, Schauffer!” 

Schauffer stayed frozen in place for a moment, tapping her boot on the floor as she waited for the tension in her chest to subside. Usually, the rush of co piloting the helicopter or running and gunning her way around a half-abandoned city would make her feel better, or free at least. But there was a weight on her shoulders that was making it hard to breathe. She pushed through it, running harder and targeting anything that moved with her tranq and leaving her squad to collect the bodies. She wanted the adrenaline that came with not being backed up, going solo, but she had learnt her lesson from the Brigadiers visit and couldn’t get very far. 

There was no accomplishment that came with knocking them out with one punch of her fist, or knowing that Paul and Emma could be anywhere. The echoey and distant songs that carried through the town were growing quieter and weaker, notes were missing and rhymes were slanted, there was nothing to even be scared of anymore. 

It seemed she had missed that alarm-reaction period, last time she had seen Emma she had seemed pretty healthy, stronger than before except for her leg.  
Paul had recovered from his whack to the head too, and they were back to being feral, singing harbingers of chaos. 

Although among her recent flurry of new emotions, she was also feeling worry. She didn’t hate Paul and Emma, she was scared that maybe the infection had been corrupting them somehow. She wanted to hurry up the process to retrieve them safely. 

Missions were no fun anymore, even if she had recovered a record amount of new patients. She was fuming, unable to burn off her anger of worry.

Schauffer had never been the smart kid or the popular kid in school. She was a jock, she played sports and failed her classes and didn’t have many friends outside her teams. Maybe that was why Melissa was important to her. That was her only backup for why she returned to the shopping centre once she was off work to go and pick up peach tea, the right tea this time. She didn’t even care about how she would explain her motive, she just didn’t want Melissa to be distant with her. 

She hadn’t even changed clothes, just took off her beret and tactical vest and hurried to her car. 

The cashier, the same boy who had been working that morning seemed to recognise her.

“How long have you been working for?” She asked him before he could ask her anything. 

“Oh uh, we’re a little short staffed because of the evacuation. They’re saying that Hatchetfield thing was a faulty gas pipe, so the sudden shut down is a little shady, hah,” he scanned her tea quickly and she forked over the money before he could read her total. 

“It’s just a faulty gas pipe, I hear they were testing it out but it hasn’t been fixed yet. They need to take the whole thing out, it’s dangerous,” she snatched the tea back. “I wouldn’t get close if I were you,” she warned. She would probably make an effort not to come back here. She made a mental note to do some press on the issue to calm the public. She had four groups of people to worry about now, but that was tomorrow’s issue. She wanted to give Melissa the right tea now. 

She checked in their office first, but not even her cat was there. That meant she had probably had dinner at the patient accomodation, not the canteen.  
She grumbled, that meant it was almost definitely a party. 

Don’t get her wrong, she didn’t want to be invited. She never liked parties she only liked work. But was she not invited because she had messed something up?  
Ugh. She hated this whole thinking business. She preferred having rocks for brains and letting the doctors and the scientists onboard do the thinking. 

She stormed hurriedly across the field to the rehabilitation hotel. But when she got there she had no clue what she was going to do, just burst in on her dinner party, drop off the tea and leave? 

She lingered around the corner of the lobby door where she could hear the jovial laughter of those inside. It sounded like there had to be ten people at least. 

She hadn’t even notice that she had crushed the corner of the box from gripping it so hard. 

“No, no really!” Came Melissa’s voice from inside. “I mean it, you should all cut it off, you’re all really rough in the military, aren’t you?”

Her words were followed by a round of laughter, hers was distinctly missing. She was about to throw the lobby open if they were making fun of her. 

“We all make mistakes but you know. It’s, hah,” whoever was speaking couldn’t even finish it off without laughing. 

“Yes, exactly! It’s not even a big mistake, she works so hard, and she’s really nice, and you all have to stop talking like that!” 

The atmosphere stayed happy and energetic, there was always at least one person laughing, but Melissa was starting to sound a bit more intent, frustrated almost. 

“People in the military have some shittalk,” a voice, definitely Ted’s, has guffawed. “Up in accounting we used to shit talk the guys in IT, not you though Char, but you’re putting us to shame! What could she even have done?” 

“Yes, I agree with Melissa, maybe you’re all being a little too rude,” came a quieter voice. She didn’t remember what Charlotte’s sounded like, but she recognised the way she spoke. 

“I really like her!” That was Mr. Davidson. “This is all a little unwarranted.” 

“You guys are all just saying that because you get to hang out in a hotel all day while we bust our asses risking our lives,” one soldier joked. 

“Yeah, but the colonel has no control over it. You signed up to be in PEIP anyways!” Melissa spat, and it was the first hint of unfiltered anger Schauffer had heard from her. She was so surprised she didn’t even stop to process they were talking about her until a moment later. 

“Yeah but General Mcnamara was way more fun!”

“And kind,” someone put in a little lower. “I dunno. Schauffer is a bit of a blank slate.” 

“No she isn’t,” Melissa’s voice was firm. 

Schauffer pressed up to the wall, crunching the box in her grip. 

“Schauffer is really kind to everyone, she risked her own life going out on the field the other day when I met her! She was doing some favours for some of us in containment,” Melissa pointed out. 

“My wife was brought back the other day!” Mr Davidson exclaimed. 

“Okay, debunking that, she had an absolute temper tantrum before going out into the field, it was just her doing her job, and also she beat Ted and Charlotte over the head to get them in the chopper.” 

Ted snorted. “Yeah, but that was totally fair. God, being infected makes you such a fucking clown with all that singing and dancing and worshipping Paul shit.” 

“Well she’s got a lot to handle, and none of you are being very helpful slacking off. And you know what? She went out and got me some tea this morning because she had heard me mention it before and I’ve had a lot of friends in my life time but that’s got to be the kindest! The only open shop is forty minutes away!”

A jolt of electricity was sent through her body at that name. Friend. It was the only thing compelling her to stay and listen on when the rest of her just wanted to leave. Quite frankly she didn’t care if they were going to complain about her behind her back, worse things had happened in this platoon. And if she couldn’t get them to do their job because it was their job, she’d scare them into doing it. 

“Well she’s never gotten any of us tea before,” one boy chuckled. “She’s just sucking up to you because you’re a patient. Sounds like she’s great to you guys but there’s radio silence for us. We send in a form to get signed and it takes a week to get back.”

“Because all one hundred of you are sending in forms! I would know because I organise it all! She’s not bad, guys. She’s just busy, and you aren’t making it easy for her,” she growled. “Just like, do your jobs you know? You don’t just hand in a resume to work at PEIP you really have to train for it so what’s with all this sleeping on it? She’s carrying the whole team!” 

“She isn’t carrying the team, Melissa. You don’t know the dynamics, you’ve been working with us for a week. At that memorial today she didn’t even know all their names, I swear she had to look over at the dog tags to get them.” 

She scoffed. “Because a hundred of you were randomly assigned to this mission! She hasn’t met half of you before and you all dress the exact same!”

“That’s the uniform,” someone butted in, maybe Ted. 

“She’s got to memorise all the names of the Hatchetfield citizens too, and she didn’t have time to make a speech because no one told her about it until the last minute when she was supposed to be like, the guest of honour!” 

“Nah, she’s just not a name person. Do you even know her first name?”

“No, but...”

She didn’t really want to hear Melissa fighting for her, even if it did calm the racing thoughts in her head for just a moment. It was sweet, but something in her rejected accepting it. She was going to walk away when one soldier piped up. 

“Sure, okay, but what about that post she emailed out this morning?” 

“What email?” Melissa sounded confused, her volume dropping right down. 

Oh not that email. She didn’t need Melissa finding out about it, nor did she need it spreading. She swung the door open to walk in and put a halt to the conversation.

It died almost instantly with a little bit of tense and awkward laughter. She wasn’t too sure what to do from here. 

“Hi, colonel,” one of the soldiers spoke up, some enjoyment in his words like he was about to find some proof to all the bad things he was saying. “What’re you doing here?” 

Schauffer’s fist was balled up, the other was clenched around the box of tea, crumbling it to the point she could feel her fingers through the box. “Melissa,” she began, and from the way she spoke it must have given away she had heard something.

Melissa anxiously stood up, her hands running through her hair and her shoulders hunching. She tweaked her glasses and let out a nervous laugh as she began to talk. “Colonel, it’s not a party, we we’re just talking,” She stammered, her hands holding on tight around her cat’s chest.

“Melissa can I talk to you outside?” Her heartbeat was nauseating. It wasn’t racing, but it was crashing so hard against her ribs that she could feel her body twitching with each beat. 

She swallowed, her breathing picking up. “Sorry, Colonel, I wasn’t,” she paused because she couldn’t get the words out, a nervous but unintelligible mumble falling from her lips like a sigh. She scooped her cat up and crossed through the lobby to follow after her. Her head was dropped and her shoulders tucked into her chest as she hurried over.  
“Yes, Colonel?” She mumbled as they stepped outside.

Schauffer jerked her head sharply at the field. She was going to take Melissa back to headquarters. She didn’t know what for, but she wanted Melissa with her- not with those asshole soldiers that making her so mad. 

“I’m sorry, colonel,” she tried again. “It was just dinner, we weren’t messing around.”

“I don’t care if you’re having a party. I do not care what anyone is doing on their off time.”

Melissa stumbled as they walked. “Wait, what am I in trouble for?” Her voice was quiet and desperate for forgiveness like this was the worst thing that could possibly happen. “Colonel, wait, please wait,” her shoulders were slumped now like this was actually weighed her down to the point she couldn’t keep up. 

“You aren’t in trouble, Melissa.” She turned around to wait for her.

The girl whined, letting herself fall down to her knees and then to the floor. She crossed her legs so she could set her elbows on her knees and rest her head in the palms. “Colonel Schauffer! Don’t scare me like that!” Her cat let out a bothered mewl and skipped out of her lap to pace around her.

“Sorry,” she apologised dryly, getting down on one knee to check she wasn’t crying. “Here.” She presented the box of tea out to the girl.

She looked up with a pout on her face before noticing the tea. It wasn’t very recognisable after being crushed so much, but she took it, tilting her head. “Why’d you go back to the shop, Colonel?”

“You don’t have to call me Colonel all the time.” She grunted as she sat down on the grass besides her. “Just Schauffer is fine.” 

“Ugh, I know. But you are the colonel, and everyone should respect that. I think um, when you came in-“

“I heard that all, yes.”

Melissa let her head drop back into her hands and she groaned, unsure of what to say. 

“I don’t mind it, Melissa. I don’t care at all what they think anymore. I’m just going to focus on my work, I can’t change things,” she patted the girl’s shoulder to try and get her to cheer up a little. 

“I didn’t want them talking about you, I didn’t know what to do though. You’ve got so much to deal with already and I didn’t want you think we were taking it easy.” 

“You’re off the clock, Melissa. You can party all you like.”

“Then why’d you call me out here?” She reached a hand out to pat her cat for comfort, turning away from the colonel to rest her forehead on top of her cat. 

“I don’t know, Melissa,” she confessed. “I wanted to give you your tea.”

“Yeah, but why’d you get it? You already went out this morning. How much was it? Let me pay you back.” She spoke like she was about to burst into tears at any moment. 

“No, that’s not necessary,” she fussed about so she could cross her legs. She hadn’t sat like that in years, it made her feel like a teenager. She clenched her toes inside her boots and dug her nails into her pant leg at the way that made her feel. “I wanted to make sure we were alright?” Even that came out like she was a child again. There was no power or order behind it. 

“Like? Huh?” 

“That you weren’t mad at me?” She rubbed her neck, raising one eyebrow. She felt dumb. 

“No, why would I be mad?” She knocked her glasses up so she could rub her eyes. 

“It’s been a remarkably bad day today,” she hung her head down, shaking it, letting the exhaustion hit. 

Melissa shook her head. “No it hasn’t, for me at least. It’s been a little day to day. I liked doing parole with you today, and seeing everyone,” she kept her voice mumbly, afraid to talk up like a child who was in trouble. 

Schauffer bit her lip hard, one sharp tooth piercing the skin. “Then why were you so quiet?” She wiped away the blood that was starting to ball. 

“Because I didn’t like seeing Emma’s dad at the end there. I never met her formally, but Paul was so in love with her, and he wouldn’t fall in love with someone the way her father described her.” She began to trace lines in the dirt. “Paul’s good. I miss him.” 

“He’ll be back soon. So will she. It’s my goal to make sure Paul is brought back safely. I didn’t see much of him on my patrol today. But the numbers are getting smaller,” she brought up hopefully. “We’re nearly done. We’ve still got a week and a half left to wrap things up before the Brigadier tries to take things into her own hands.” 

“Yeah, that’ll suck a little bit, won’t it?” 

“Oh no, it’ll be wonderful to finish this all up! You’ll get back to Paul and well... your old life.” 

Melissa seemed to try to smile at it. “I’ll miss hanging out with you though Schauffer, we are friends you know.”

There was that explosion of energy in her heart again. It made her want to run laps of the field and never stop. “We are?” 

“Yeah, of course, Schauffer. I think you’re great. Like, you went halfway across town twice today just to get me tea? Like,” she picked the box up as if to remind her before dropping it down into her lap. “You didn’t have to do that. Why did you?”

“Because we’re friends,” she really liked the way it sounded. “You have to cut most ties when you join PEIP, not that I really had many. It’s a little lonely this high up on the ladder. I had the General but, you know.” 

“He was Infected, I’m sorry.” 

“It’s okay,” Schauffer waved a hand at it, turning away so they were both facing the sunset instead of each other. “We’ve got a cure.”

They shared a lazy moment, staring up at the clouds. 

“Were you okay today?” Melissa questioned, regaining a bit of volume.

“Yes, I was Melissa. You don’t need to worry about me really. Everything is under control,” she gave an affirmative nod. Things were normal again. 

“You’ve seemed a little off since you saw the General yesterday. And I know it’s a little spooky. Like, when I saw Paul last week he wasn’t really quite him. It threw me off.”

“Oh, that was all repressed very quickly,” she joked, laughing so Melissa knew it wasn’t a big deal. “Yep. Locked that one up. He said some things, it was the Infection talking. Uh, I’m too distant, I don’t have my platoons respect, that sort of thing,” she rolled her eyes. It was hard to get the truthful things out. It was like speaking around a brick in her throat. “That’s all true, no use trying to deny it after seeing that back in the lobby, is there?” She let out a rough chuckle.

Melissa apologised again, ripping out a chunk of grass and letting it all fly away in the breeze. 

“I can’t control things. I won’t see half this squad again after this is all wrapped up. I can work on improving myself some other way. It’s not easy to get much respect in a job like this, but it’s never mattered to me.” 

“That’s good at least, Schauffer. But I respect you,” she glanced sideways at her just to catch her eye for a second. “I’m very proud of you and your work.” 

The compliment was intimate, and a little too much for her to handle without a small spasming shake dancing down her spine. “My first name is Claire, by the way,” she said instead, quickly regretting it because she didn’t want any sort of big show. She turned her head away to ask to move on. 

“My middle name is Margaret,” Melissa elbowed her. “It’s totally lame, isn’t it?” 

Schauffer snorted. “What’s wrong with that?” 

“I was named after my weird, estranged great grandmother. Ugh. It’s such an old person name,” she rolled her eyes. “Don’t tell anyone.” 

“I won’t, Melissa, don’t worry.” 

“You know,” she started again, her hair blowing in the sunset breeze, giving it an almost auburn hue while what was left of the sunlight graced her forehead and her cheek. “I don’t think the General would mean any of that. I think he’d be pretty proud of you to see how well this has been coming along.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> U heard it here first folks,, carol made it I feel immeasurable and crippling guilt whenever I upload this instead of a regular paulkins fic lmao I promise I’ll have something tomorrow or the next day


	15. Join us and die

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paul and Emma have gotten weaker since their last fight with the Colonel, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t a worthy fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I stole lyrics from dr horribles sing along blog bc I’m awful at making my own songs so uuuu I did not write the first bit of singing just a psa

Today, Paul’s favourite part of the day was watching that familiar black helicopter touch down in its regular spot in the park. He licked his lips, starting to drum out a rhythm with his hands on the road, brimming with excitement. 

Emma was laying on her stomach besides him, watching the helicopter land. Her eyes were fixed on the chopper like a hunter on its prey. If she was a cat, her ears would’ve been pricked and her tail would’ve been lashing. She couldn’t hold herself still, and she began to tap out Paul’s rhythm too. 

“Is everything ready?” 

“You don’t have to worry your sweet head about that, my love. You ask me like you don’t know,” she shot him a cheeky smile, sitting up and leaning into his shoulder. “We’re very ready.” 

“Things are going to be so much easier once she’s out of the way,” Paul purred. “Then we’ll bend the world to our will, and we’ll make time stand still.” 

Emma grinned, humming into him as he rhythm filled up her mind, her heart beating in time. 

“That’s the plan, rule the world,” Paul hopped to his feet, hauling Emma up into his arms to spin her around. “You and me, any day.” 

“Ready?” Emma leant in to grab a quick kiss before Paul put her down. 

“Ready.”

They sung together as they walked, not worried about being seen. It had been decided for a while now, that woman  
\- McNamara called her Schauffer- was not to get in their way anymore, she was too disruptive, and Paul and Emma had decided what to do with her.   
Today she would either join the Hive or die. 

They could hear the commanding shouts of the colonel splitting up her team, but they knew she would stay with Melissa. 

They turned down a left street to avoid walking past the helicopter, scaling up the side of a townhome to get a better vantage. Paul leapt from one roof to another, not quite sticking it but landing on his feet at least. He turned around to hold out an arm for Emma, but she had already jumped, twirling through the air and landing perfectly on pointed feet.  
“Show off,” he chuckled as she helped him stand up straight, nuzzling into her neck to steal a quick kiss. 

“I like to put on a show for you,” she titled her head back to show off her neck, inviting him to continue, but they did have places to be.

Ever since her leg had gotten better she had been exerting herself again. Every day they felt the Hivemind helping them get stronger and stronger. He knew nothing ever went wrong in the Hive. 

They hopped onto the next roof, making their way down the street to where Mcnamara had positioned Bill. He said he knew Schauffer’s regular route, and there wouldn’t be any way for her to miss him. 

They finally found a roof to settle on, they could see both the helicopter and Bill’s spot. 

Paul waved to Bill, who was in place just as Mcnamara had told him. “Ready?”

His friend gave a beaming smile in return that always made Emma melt. “Oh I love Bill, you sure he’ll be safe?” 

“Well Mcnamara says they’re only shooting tranquilliser darts,” he recounted. He leant down a bit to call to Bill again. “You think you can take one of them?” 

“If it’s for Alice, I’ll take this,” he promised. 

“We won’t let them take you,” Paul added. “You know that.” 

“I trust you, Paul,” Bill dipped his head. 

“Oh!” Emma gave Paul’s shoulder a shove to draw him back to the plan. From their seat, they could see that the Helicopter group had split up, and the colonel and Melissa were making their way down the right road. “Perfect position, Bill!” 

“And you’ll be safe with Melissa?” Paul had to double check. 

“Of course, for you! I’ll try to bring her back to us very safely,” she assured him, one hand on his knee. “McNamara’s plan has choreographed without a flaw. Then they’ll have to withdraw,” she was perched forward now, watching them make their way through the streets.

“It’s quiet today,” they heard Melissa mumble. 

The colonel patted her back, eyeing up the street. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” 

Paul and Emma giggled and swiftly scrambled up the roof tiles to hide behind the chimney so they wouldn’t be spotted.   
Emma stuck low to the roof so Paul could rest his head on top of hers, his body crossed over her back, excitement running through both of them.

“I can’t hear any singing,” the colonel dropped her voice, saying something quietly that neither of them could hear. 

“That’s ‘caus we’ve been getting so many people off the island!” Melissa cheered. “Maybe it’s a good thing?” 

“No, I don’t know about that,” she put a hand on Melissa’s shoulder so she wouldn’t run ahead without her. “It shouldn’t be this silent.” 

“Hey, don’t be so skeptical! You’re doubting your success, Schauffer! I mean, how many people could be left on this island anyways? We only had a population of about...” she trailed off because Schauffer drew to a halt. 

“There we are,” she drew her voice right down to a whisper.

Emma slipped back, preparing to hop down from the roof once Paul shared the signal with her. 

Paul watched on, biting down on his tongue so his triumphant laughter wouldn’t give away their position. 

The colonel had spotted Bill and was slowly raising her tranq. Bill was pretending not to notice. “Stay still, Melissa. There’s one at twelve o clock.” 

“Oh!” Melissa slapped a hand over her mouth, skipping forward a step before stopping herself upon remembering her orders. “It’s Bill! That’s my co worker, that’s um! That’s who Deb asked us to keep an eye out for her! Alice!” 

She was too jumpy, as always. He smiled fondly and hoped Emma wouldn’t scare the younger girl too much. 

“Perfect!” Schauffer even pumped her fist, but her body was angled away from Melissa like she didn’t want to let the girl in on that sort of childishness coming from her. “Stay back here,” she ordered, sneaking forward. 

Paul shot Bill a look to get him prepared, he was clicking his fingers to a tune anxiously, all his trust in his friends. 

Paul eased out the tension in his mind to let Emma and Bill into his head to see through his eyes. 

Emma deemed the colonel far enough from Melissa to begin orchestrating the plan. It eased Bill to let him know what was coming when he was supposed to keep his back turned. 

The colonel crept forward in complete silence, tranq raised and on target. And then she fired, and it hit. 

Paul winced at the sight, feeling Bill’s absence in his head like a light switch that had been turned off. He was about to get down off the roof to carry out his part of the plan when surprisingly Schauffer looked forward instead of turning around to check on Melissa. 

She muttered something through her radio before picking up Bill’s body to tuck him away somewhere until she could take him back to the helicopter. 

Paul must’ve made a noise as he got up to follow after her because Melissa looked up and spotted him. She opened her mouth to try and alert the colonel with a cry, raising her bat but Emma snuck up from behind, grabbing it from her hands before she could even expect it. She yanked it from her grip with one hand, the other gripping Melissa’s shoulder to keep her still so the second her bat hit the ground with a clang she could slip her arm across her neck, cutting short a gurgle of a cry for help. She pulled Melissa’s back up against her chest, the other arm around her hips so she wouldn’t kick. 

Paul tried to look away from the deathly fear in his friend’s eyes as she gripped at her neck, preparing and expecting Emma to choke her. 

Paul scattered down the roof tiles, dropping off from the side to climb down the wall. 

“Melissa!” He heard the woman shout out as he bolted around onto the street, crouching down so she wouldn’t notice him. 

“Don’t come any closer!” Emma ordered, tightening her hold on Melissa. 

Schauffer stepped back, but did not let go of her tranq. There was going to be trouble if she tried to strike Emma. “Are you okay Melissa?” She tried to talk to her instead. 

Melissa tried to pull at Emma’s arm to speak but Emma stepped back and she had to scramble to keep her footing.

“You let go of Melissa right now, Perkins,” she held up her tranq to warn Emma. 

Paul just had to get behind Schauffer, but she had ran a little quicker than he had expected. He needed Emma to stall for him but fortunately she looked like she was having some fun.

Emma was small enough to use Melissa as a human shield, and they both knew the colonel wouldn’t hurt her friend. Emma was at no risk. “Or what?” She sneered.

“I am not afraid to pull this trigger, Perkins. What do you want from me?”

“Nothing, Nothing! I’m just dropping in to say hello to my old friend Melissa!” She jerked her backwards. 

“Stop!” Schauffer shouted, a tinge of paleness in her tough complexion. 

As Paul moved, a leaf crackled under his feet, but Schauffer didn’t even turn to the noise. 

“You’re a bit of a traitor, Melissa,” Emma snarled, her toothed grin wide and malevolent. “Leaving the family to run off. You can come back y’know,” her eyes flashed, too hyped to stop a trail of blue slime dribbling from her mouth. 

“Perkins!” Clearly that had crossed the line for Schauffer, and she pelted forward without thinking, passing Paul by without even batting an eye. 

That wasn’t what they were quite expecting from her, in a moment of fright that she might actually hurt Emma, Paul jumped into action a little prematurely. He managed to hop out behind Schauffer just in time to catch her utility vest. 

She didn’t even turn around to see who it was, she reached back to take him by the shoulder and flip him down to he ground. 

Paul hit the concrete with a grunt, stunned for a moment at her reaction. But he rolled over to push himself back up. No way was he letting her get near Emma. 

Emma must’ve been surprised too, because she let go of Melissa, pushing her backwards so she could evade Schauffer.

Paul rushed to Emma’s side to make sure she was alright. 

“Get the bat,” she whispered to him. 

“Melissa, get out of here!” Schauffer ordered, her hands on the smaller girl’s shoulders to double check her for injuries. There was a flame in her eyes. 

“Schauffer, no!”

“Melissa you are not safe here!” She prodded a finger to her chest. “I’ll be fine, go get some help!” She spun her around and pushed her off on her way. Just like that, Melissa took off. 

Now Schauffer was all on her own. Her tranq was tight in her hands, and she was aiming it at them. 

Emma began to circle like a shark, and Paul joined in. She couldn’t keep it on both of them, and was turning in a steady circle of her own to at least watch one of them. 

Emma was eager, She quickened her pace, starting to skip. Paul brought in the circle, tightening it, and Schauffer couldn’t turn with them anymore. 

They were moving too fast for her to watch either one of them and she fired a shot that missed them both. She grunted a curse and stumbled back, dizzy from spinning. 

Paul stuck out a leg to catch her as she moved back, sweeping her boots off the floor. 

The colonel managed to lessen the blow by breaking the fall with her hands, but Emma pounced on the opportunity and kicked her onto her side to keep her on the ground, placing a foot on her stomach. 

Paul swooped in to grab Emma around the waist to pull her back. He had studied enough of Schauffer’s behaviour to know not to stay too close to her. But there was some resistance, Schauffer had already grabbed onto Emma’s ankle.   
Paul stomped a foot down on the colonel’s elbow, rolling her arm so she had to let go. He let Emma down to try and stomp on her again, but she rolled to her side to take the blunt of it with her shoulder and she pushed herself up. 

Paul moved too quickly for Schauffer to react. He launched a fist into her gut and Emma let out a challenging hiss from behind him. 

Almost unfazed Schauffer landed a punch of her own square on Paul’s face. 

He clutched a hand to his nose as his eyes watered, and he doubled over to protect his stomach as his eyes shut.   
A white blur in the corner of his slitted eyes told him Emma had flung herself at Schauffer again, barreling her to the ground with the intent to keep her there. 

She wasn’t shouting, there was barely even any raw fear in her eyes. She only grunted or hissed in pain through gritted teeth with every kick and punch Emma sent. 

Her eyes never shut, not even when flinching from a hit. Paul could see them tracing every move Emma made to deliver a counterattack. 

Blue slime gurgled in the back of Emma’s throat in preparation to infect her, she grappled with both of Schauffer’s hands as she got down to get closer to her mouth, but Schauffer freed one hand to swing a hit that connected with Emma’s eye and her hands stopped their beating for a moment to clasp at her face, in the moment her guard was down Schauffer shoved Emma back with a kick to her stomach.

Emma fell back onto the ground and Paul tagged in, shifting all of his weight to one foot to bring it down on one of Schauffer’s hands to pin her down before she could get herself up again. He ground the heel of his shoe onto her palm and while she stifled a writhing, pained shake Emma crawled up to steal her tranq from her belt. 

“Shit!” Schauffer swore, the first hints of real fear and concern making themselves known in the twisting of her features. 

Just as quickly, Emma scampered away to collect Melissa’s bat. 

Paul raised his foot only to bring it back down again. Something cracked and her legs drew up like she was in pain.   
“It’s simple - just let the infection take root. It’s a fact you just can’t refute, the apotheosis cannot be bested so obey and let yourself become infected!” He briefly removed his foot from her hand to deliver   
a kick to the corner of her jaw but instead of it making her open it in a yell she only clenched it shut tighter.

She stuck the heels of her boots to the ground to lever herself up, driving her shoulder up into Paul’s stomach to send him staggering back. 

She was clutching her hand to her chest tightly like it’d fall apart if she didn’t hold it together. She was heaving and swaying just ever so slightly, her angry eyes paying so much attention to Paul she didn’t even notice Emma coming up behind her with the bat. 

She brought it down first on Schauffer’s knee and it was the first real shout of pain they had gotten from her as her other leg buckled and she collapsed to the sidewalk again. 

Paul held out a hand for Emma to fork the bat over and with a single blow he smacked it into the back of her skull with enough force to crack right through her helmet.

She blacked out, her body falling in a crumpled heap. 

“Yes, Yes!” Emma bounced up and down, her hands sliding up Paul’s arms as she leant up to kiss him. 

He dropped the bat so he could slip both arms around the small of Emma’s back and pull her closer to him to deepen the kiss.

“Good job, my boy,” she praised, staring into his eyes for a moment. 

“Team effort,” he lauded with a wink. He had left a blue stain around her lips, but similarly she had managed to get the slime that was still brewing in her throat all over his chin. “Would you like to do the honours, my loveliest?” 

“I’d love to!” She got down to her knees, using both hands to roll the colonel onto her back, placing a hand on her jaw and leaning in, the slime dropping down her chin and landing on the colonel’s cheek.

“Well there we have it!” Came a clap from behind them. 

“Oh! General Mcnamara!” Emma leaned away, taking a seat besides her body. “Yep! All taken care of!” 

Paul held out a hand to help Emma up as the General approached from down the street in a march. 

“Mind if I have a quick word before I let you get back to business?” 

“Go ahead,” Paul didn’t mind. It meant he could get in another minute or so of working on Emma, and as soon as she was standing up he greedily enveloped her into a hug. He could spend all day kissing her, and with the colonel out of the way that was pretty much his only plan, and we was pretty deadset on carrying through with it.

Even though Emma was just about eating his face Paul could still feel the intensity of McNamara’s thought process. He had been the one to create the successful plan after all.

“Want is a dangerous thing sometimes,” he muttered, giving Schauffer’s shoulder a firm pat. “I think you would’ve stood a fighting chance if you weren’t trying to protect that girl.” 

Paul broke away from Emma to sigh, resting his head on her shoulder. “Can we infect her now?” 

He held her jaw in his hands. “Anyone who works for PEIP is supposed to be ready to die in the line of duty, but you just weren’t going to let her get hurt, were you? But that’s what kept you fighting this time wasn’t it?” He clicked his tongue as he stood up. “The colonel’s gotten a bit soft,” he told Paul and Emma. 

But the latter wasn’t quite paying attention, she was tugging at Paul’s tie to get him to lean down and kiss her again. 

“Colonel Schauffer,” he cleared his throat, taking a step back from her body to signal that Emma could start moving in again. “You’re going to be a lot less stressed where you’re going now. It’ll be healthy for you.” He walked backwards as if he didn’t want to look away from her, but gave Emma’s back a pat when he crossed her. “Put her out of her misery.” 

Emma bounced up and down on her toes, wiping her lips clean before getting back down, not savouring the moment this time in fear of being interrupted again. But the second she opened her mouth something pierced the air above her head and she ducked down. 

“Ahhh, shit,” Paul shook his head.   
Back up had arrived. There were about five of them, all wielding proper guns and legging it down the road.

“You two better clear on out,” Mcnamara brandished his own weapon, giving it a doting look. 

“But what about the colonel?” Emma let out a bothered hiss of annoyance. “Can I just-?” She was cut short by another bullet that only happened to miss her because she had slumped her shoulders. “Point taken!” 

“I’ll deal with her, you both better take cover.” He fired a warning shot at the soldiers who seemed to waver in their confidence when they saw their General. “Boys!” He called to them jovially. “Prepared for battle?” 

Paul took Emma’s hand and they ran off, darting into the backyard of the house they had sat on to climb over the fence and into the next block. 

“I was this close!” Emma snarled. “This close but I didn’t get her!”

“Don’t blame yourself, Emma,” Paul huffed, a little disappointed they had been interrupted just a second too early. “General Mcnamara will get her.”

“He’ll get Bill too, right? That colonel hid him. We don’t know where he is and we can’t go back there.” 

“Oh, of course Emma, don’t you worry!” He pauses in their run to caress her cheek and guide her focus up to look at him. Her eyes were bluer than ever. “Once he invites the colonel to the family she’ll know where she put Bill, see?” 

“Ahh! I get it!” She nodded.

Their eyes lingered on each other, ready to call quits on the running for a moment alone, but then the gun fire broke out.   
Paul could basically feel the chills running down Emma’s spine. With a heavy sigh, he grabbed her hand again. They could only hope the General stayed safe.   
“Time to keep running.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sometimes I write fight scenes and I’m like hmm time to whip out the warrior cats books for a quick refresher & you can tell


	16. Don’t tell me what to do, I’m the colonel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Schauffer’s powerplay card doesn’t really work when she can’t even get out of bed (not that a couple of shattered bones can stop her trying)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Catch me swerving bf spoilers & going on tangents to enforce my aromantic schauffer headcanons

Melissa was curled up, half asleep in the chair besides Schauffer’s hospital bed when the colonel stirred. 

She scrambled to sit upright, sliding her glasses back up her nose and grooming out her hair to seem somewhat appeasing. “Colonel!”

“I told you you could call me Schauffer, Schauffer is fine,” she mumbled, her eyes still closed. Her breathing was much steadier than it had been when they had recovered her from the General. “What day is it?” 

“Um, it’s the seventh,” Melissa reported, playing with her fingers. “Are you okay?”

Schauffer was scarily still for a moment, just breathing in and out and acclimatising. But then she awoke properly with a start, sitting up so quickly that the pole attached to the drip in her good hand slid forward and Melissa had to jump up to catch it. “The seventh!?” 

“Uh, Yeah! You were out for a while and the surgery was-“

“If it’s the seventh already then I’ve got to get moving!” She pulled back the blankets, throwing her legs over the side of the bed and gripping onto the IV pole for balance.

Melissa let out a yelp of surprise, her hands flying to Schauffer’s sides to stop her trying to walk off. “You can’t stand!” She informed her. 

“What do you mean? I’ve got things to do. The Brigadier put a time limit on this mission, remember? I’ve only got a week and a half now to finish up!”

“You just had surgery last night! You got beat up pretty badly, Schauffer!” Melissa desperately wanted her to lay back down. She didn’t think telling Schauffer the extent of the damage done herself would actually convince her to lay back down. If she knew her friend well enough she was sure she would say ‘oh, only that? That’s not bad’ and try to move on with life.  
The doctor’s report clipped to the foot of the hospital bed read that she had a broken left knee cap, and some broken metacarpal bones in her right hand. She was admitted with a moderate concussion and a series of minor and external cuts and blunt force marks. She hadn’t been awake for a day or two, and she wasn’t looking very fresh anymore. 

“Well then let me speak to a doctor! Where’s Adam? I need to be getting things done. Ive already lost two days,” she snapped.

“Just lay down, he’ll come in a little bit. He’s in the observation lab right now, we got Bill in the end,” she leant her arms across the security bars of the hospital so she could talk to Schauffer as she begrudgingly lay back down, stiff from the bandages coiled around her chest. “We nearly got the General too I heard but um, things got messy.”

“What happened?” She questioned, needing to be filled in on what she missed out on.

“I’m not the right one to tell you probably. One of the sergeants thinks the whole thing was a planned ambush. Deb and Alice were really happy to hear you got Deb back though,” she prompted with a smile. “Everyone over at the rehab has been asking about you, I keep having to turn people away at the door. The doctor says you aren’t allowed to see people while you’re recovering because you had a bit of a concussion.” 

“Well that’s just ridiculous. Send them in, what do they need?”

Melissa took a seat again, swinging her legs. “They just wanted to see if you were okay.” 

“Why wouldn’t I be?” She huffed. “What are they so worried about?”

Melissa tried not to whine. “I’ve been listening to a bunch of stories while I was waiting for you to wake up. It kinda sounds like you guys had a bit of a shock when you lost the General, no one wanted to lose you too.” She pauses to laugh, not wanting to be too brash, “if they lost you, then Brigadier Savant would be in charge and no one wants that. She’s no fun.” 

The corner of Schauffer’s lip twisted up in a rough smile. “Of course, because I’m such a riot.” 

Melissa gave a tired chuckle, sinking back down into her chair to rest her head on her knees. 

“What’re you so down for, Officer? Last time I checked I was the one in the hospital bed. Go play,” she was quite awake now. Melissa didn’t think she had a chance of falling back to sleep, and until she did she wasn’t leaving her side. 

“Uh, it’s nothing. I just want to stay with you until you’re clear. Do you need anything? I can get you some water, you must be pretty thirsty,” she offered, getting up before Schauffer could even agree. 

“I’m fine, Melissa. Why don’t you go down to the rehab centre and you can tell them all to quit worrying. I’m fine,” she rubbed one eye with the heel of her palm. 

Melissa shook her head. “No, I’ll stay with you.”

“I may be out of commission for a bit but I’d like it if my assistant was still getting some work done,” there was a hint of friendly warning to her tone. 

Melissa knew Schauffer didn’t want to be fussed over. But Melissa also knew it was her responsibility, if she had stuck around or been more prepared Schauffer wouldn’t have wound up like this. She yanked her backpack up off the floor, sitting it in her lap. There was a bit of a weight to it. “I knew you’d say that, so I brought you some paperwork you could sign off on until you’re good to go.” She pulled out a stack, slamming it down on the trolley table so Schauffer didn’t need to sit up. “I’ve brought some notes from the lab to study up on, so I won’t waste your time. Do you need anything else?” 

“You’re smothering me, Melissa. I’ve had much worse happen than this. Oh, what even is this? A concussion, a limp? Don’t you need to go feed your cat?” 

“Mew is doing fine, I left her with Charlotte overnight so she’s being fed. I really don’t have anything better to do than wait for you, Schauffer!” She tried to justify herself. 

“No. Come on,” Schauffer tried to hide a pained groan as she sat up in bed so she could look Melissa in the eye. “I don’t want you here when the doctor comes. You don’t want to see the stitches, do you?”

“You don’t have to protect me,” she cut in, her voice cold. It wiped the slight, testing smile right off Schauffer’s face. “I mean, it’s fine. I know how it happened. Paul did it. It’s okay, I heard.”

Schauffer settled back down, the silence growing tense and awkward now. She pretended to fix her blankets as if she needed a moment. “I’m sorry, Melissa.”

“Paul nearly killed you, Colonel Schauffer,” she had to say it out loud because she still couldn’t believe it. 

“It’d take a lot more than a couple Of bruises to kill me, Melissa. It’s all flesh wounds,” she began quickly, trying to make an effort to comfort Melissa.

“They could have infected you. That was their plan.”

“It’s always their plan, Melissa. Don’t-ugh, don’t cry, it’s okay,” she wiped a curl of her hair off her face, wincing. “No, you don’t have to- I’m not good at comforting people, Melissa.”

“You don’t have to, it’s okay, I’m really sorry,” she pushed her glasses out of the way to dry her eyes with her hands. “I didn’t mean to start crying.” She hung her head so Schauffer couldn’t see, just in case things got worse. “I know it’s not Paul who did it. I know I should have fought back, I should have stayed with you. But you always say we aren’t going to hurt them, and not to try ‘caus it might make them violent, but I shouldn’t have run and left you,” she whimpered. “Sorry, Schauffer. I don’t want to cry about it. I don’t want to bother you.” 

“Melissa,” the colonel tried, gritting her teeth and holding one hand up like she didn’t know what to do with it. “You did the right thing. I’m very pleased you ran when I told you to. You brought back reinforcements, I would’ve been in a lot more trouble than if you had stayed,” she attempted to inform her. 

The logical part of Melissa knew she was right. Melissa probably wouldn’t have it in her to hurt either of them, she’d just make it worse. But at the same time, she had vowed to do her best for Schauffer, and she had failed. “I should have held onto my bat tighter.” 

“Melissa, you’d better not be blaming yourself,” she balled up her good hand. “These things happen.”

“They took my bat, colonel. And people are telling me Emma broke your knee with it!”

“Oh!” Schauffer did seem to break away from their talk for a moment. “Well I suppose a bat will do it to you. Give me the doctors report, Melissa.”

She obliged, sulking across the room to grab it from the end of her bed and pass it over. “I know I told you to wait until they were weaker, but I don’t know anymore. They’re so dangerous. They’re so-“

“Good god, shattered? That’ll need time I don’t have. Can you fetch those crutches over there for me?” 

“What? Uh,” Melissa shook her head in surprise before backing off to go get them as per her request. 

“Melissa, Paul and Emma are a lot weaker than the last time we fought. God, Perkins picked me up with one hand, she tossed me into a wall and I was out for hours. But they’re more contained now. I have a theory perhaps that the longer they’re infected the more corrupting it might be. I think now is the time to strike too.”

“Oh, well you can’t yet, you need to get better first!” Surely she wasn’t about to go do that now. 

Schauffer cut her off with a complaining and dismissive groan. “Well I don’t have that time, do I Melissa? Hand them over.” She held out a hand to collect the crutch and in her nonplussed stupor, Melissa let her take them. 

She stuck the rest under her arm and cautiously got to her feet was a small, pained gasp. “Now I know this has got to be shocking for you. To see Paul do such bad things when you’ve known him for so long. And it must be a little concerning at the least to hear of Emma from Paul as some sort of, I don’t know, Angel amongst men only to see her beat the living shit out of me,” she paused to grunt. “I’m not young Melissa, this hip isn’t going to get better. But I promise once Emma and Paul are taken care of you can meet the both of them again, and it’ll all be fine. Are you excited to meet the real Perkins for once?” 

“Wait, Colonel Schauffer!” Melissa stammered. “Are you actually using my shock as a smokescreen to walk on out of here?” She marched across the room to grab her and the colonel flinched away when Melissa took her hand, her eyes wrenching shut as she pulled her arm away. “Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry! I forgot, bad hand. Bone broke. Shoot, I’m sorry.” 

“It’s alright, Melissa. Don’t panic. I’m fine. This isn’t even going to slow me down.”

“Colonel?” Came Doctor Adam’s voice from the other side of the bay. He didn’t seem too surprised Schauffer was seeing herself out. “I thought we were at least going to have a sit down to talk about your injuries before I clear you.”

“Oh rubbish. We can walk and talk. Catch up with me doctor.” 

“No, I think you’d better sit back down,” the doctor advised. 

Stubbornly, the colonel continued on her path to the bay doors and Melissa wasn’t sure how to stop her without hurting her. “I’m the colonel, I can do what I want,” she argued, pausing at the door to figure out how to open them without her hands. “Melissa, get the door for me.”

Melissa just shook her head hopelessly, biting down on her thumb. 

“You’re the colonel of the organisation, Schauffer. And I’m your doctor. So I think you’d better listen.” He patted a hand on her bed.

Schauffer looked to Melissa like she was going to back her up. “You should sit down. I don’t want your leg getting worse. And besides, even if you leave you still have to get that paperwork done!” She didn’t come up with her convincing point until the last moment, it made it seem like she was pulling at straws and Schauffer wasn’t convinced in the slightest. Or maybe that was just because she hated paperwork. 

She turned on her crutches, reluctantly hopping back over to her bed. “Well you go get some real work done for me then, Melissa, okay?”

“Really? You don’t want me to stay? Are you alright?” She asked, stretching up on the tips of her toes anxiously. 

“Melissa,” Schauffer stopped to turnover her shoulder to look her in the eye. “You’d be the best help to me right now if you took off.” 

———————————————————

“Okay, so, loud noises is a no?” Melissa was having trouble juggling the speaking and the minute-taking without Schauffer. She was a personal assistant, not a leader. But she wanted to bring back something useful to the colonel so she wouldn’t keep trying to get off her bed. Melissa had the time in her schedule to tuck in a few of Schauffer’s jobs anyways.  
The most useful she could be right now would be to host another meeting to prepare for their strike on Paul and Emma.

“Yes, Paul has never liked loud noises. Is that any help?” Today in particular she thought she had a good host of people in the meeting room, including Paul’s parents, Emma’s other co worker and her brother-in-law. However the last two weren’t much help, apparently Emma was a bit of a social recluse. 

“Yes, that’ll be really helpful. Schauffer will be able to use that.” She was getting a bit of a taste of Schauffer’s lifestyle now, the amount of times in this meeting she was asked ‘you aren’t going to hurt them are you?’ was grating on her. Of course they didn’t want to hurt either of them, but it wasn’t them, it was the infection.

“I think Emma had allergies,” her brother in law spoke up before Paul’s mother had finished, missing the social cue ever so slightly. “My wife said something about her not being able to eat something, she was gonna come to our wedding but she missed it. It was like, fish or chicken or something. Gluten?”

“No, the infected don’t really eat so that’s not much help, sorry sir,” Melissa scratched her head. Emma was turning into a bit of an enigma. Paul had always hyped her image up so much, Melissa wanted to meet her too. Paul was like family, so that meant Emma was too.  
But she was yet to hear a single good thing about Emma from anyone.  
She really wanted to meet this professor everyone seemed to associate her with.

“Emma isn’t very tall,” her coworker, Zoey spoke up. “You can’t just-?” She made a confusing gesture with her hands. “There are some really muscly looking guys around here. You can just lift her up?”

“Thank you, Zoey. But that’s not really a good idea. You see, the Hive is really strong,” she had explained it more times than she could count. 

“Oh. Well I don’t get why you can’t just get one of your dart guns and shoot them,” Zoey shrugged, Paul’s mother winced. 

“Because they’re very attached,” on a usual day she would’ve left it at that, but everyone was still staring at her so she had to elaborate. “It’s hard to get them apart, and Schauffer says it’s very hard to get near one of them because it makes the other really mad.” 

“Oooh,” Zoey cooed, nodding. “Well that’s sorta romantic.” 

“They’re evil,” the brother in law squinted, his face pinching in.

“Yeah I know but that’s sorta hot, like Romeo and Juliet right?” 

“I don’t think that was the plot at all,” Melissa bit her lip, but then she realised how off track they were. “No, wait! So, what’s something that could maybe separate them? Get them alone?” 

Blank faces. 

“Force?” The man suggested with a shrug. 

Melissa sighed. She had drained they dry of useful information. She looked at her list and it’s only two dot points: Paul doesn’t like loud noises and Emma is not very fast.  
She dropped her head down on the table. Nothing here was worth bringing back.

“Are you okay dear?” 

“Yeah, Mrs Matthews,” she glanced up at Paul’s mother with a little smile. “Just tired is all.” She made herself sit back up, wanting to appear presentable now that she was supposed to be in charge. “Um, so that’s it?”

“Is it?” Zoey asked. 

That’s right, she had to call it off. “Yeah. Meeting adjourned.” That sounded pretty official at least. “Thank you for your time.”  
She clearly lacked Schauffer’s authority, because it took a confused look shared between all four of them to shuffle out of their seats and flag down the guard standing by to escort them back to the rehab centre. 

When they were gone Melissa slapped her head back down on her notebook, her hands outstretched across the table. She had wanted to seem authoritative, she had put on her best blazer -although she did only have two on her since she started working with Schauffer- and tied her hair up in a high, tight ponytail to keep it out of her eyes, she didn’t even bring her cat.  
But Paul’s parents knew Melissa since she was in high school, and Zoey had seen her ordering coffee at six in the morning, and Emma’s brother in law seemed a little too scrambled himself to even care. 

Melissa couldn’t be a leader. She let out an annoyed moan.

“You good?” 

She sat up so fast that her office chair rolled back and she had to latch onto the table to stop herself moving. “Ted! What’re you doing here?”

“We thought the colonel was here,” he clicked his tongue. There were about four or five people with him, more still filling up the hall. “D’you how she’s doing?”

“Oh, uh. She’s still resting. Can I pass on a message for you all?” She craned her neck to get a good look at the group behind Ted. “How many of you are there?”

“Oh, I’ve got a bit of a gang. Yeah. Tell the colonel we want to help,” he put a hand down on the table. “You running things on your own here?”

Melissa nodded, grabbing her fountain pen to scribble something down just to seem like she knew what to do. “Yeah, for now. Just until Schauffer gets better, I figured I should handle things for her.” Slowly, she stood up from her chair to address Ted. “Sorry, What was it about wanting to help?” She tweaked her glasses.

“You get to go out on missions with Schauffer don’t you?” That was Sam who asked, walking up besides Ted and shouldering him slightly. 

She nodded. 

“Well we all want to give a hand too.” Ted gestured to the group behind him. There were about ten or twelve people all up, some she recognised, some she didn’t.  
“On missions, I mean.” 

“Figured,” she certainly didn’t have the authority to assign them that power, it was such a big decision she didn’t even feel like she had the power to write it down to pass on to Schauffer. “And wh-why’s that? You know people have died, right?” 

“Well I mean if you’re going how hard can it be?” Ted shrugged. 

Rob, who also seemed to be part of the group pushed past Ted to stand next to Sam and batted him in the shoulder. “That’s not what we’re saying, we’re all aware of the danger, that’s exactly why we’re here. We saw what happened with the task force a couple of days ago. We figured you might be a bit short staffed.”

And then a fourth person pushed their way to the front of the crowd. A shorter Officer than Rob, still wearing sunglasses despite being inside, arms crossed tight in defence. “We’d like to offer some help.”

Melissa’s jaw had dropped and she didn’t even notice until she had to say anything. “Who’s...?” She pointed a finger at the third officer. 

“Oh, they’re Doug,” Rob cast a glance as his colleague. 

“Oh well we haven’t been acquainted yet I believe!” She stammered, leaning across the table. 

“God, Melissa,” Ted slapped his hand to his forehead hard enough that the sound silenced everyone. “You’re fucking useless sometimes. Focus.” 

Melissa had a well known habit in the office of being easily distracted by any pretty lady to stroll into the office. Ted, who had a desk close to hers had to take over every now and then as she sat there staring and speechless and absolutely useless. And it was happening again. Pretty police officer. On any other day it would have been great but she had to focus, she just had to pay attention for Schauffer. “Uh, um,” she shook her head to clear her thoughts. “You’d all have to pass physicals first,” she explained. “Not that I don’t think you would...!” she held out a defensive hand to Doug before withdrawing it from their direction, drilling herself to concentrate. “Yes, physicals. You can’t just enter the field without some basic training. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I’d have to ask Schauffer first anyways.” 

“Ask me what first?” And there was the woman of the hour, hobbling in on her crutches with the familiar stoicism on her face. 

Melissa was relieved for a second, so glad there would be someone here to handle it, but Schauffer was definitely not supposed to be up. “Colonel Schauffer, it’s nothing. I’ll handle it. You need to go lie back down. Did the doctor let you up?”

Ted let out an audible huff at Schauffer’s state, shooting Melissa a pointed look as if to emphasis the importance of why they should all tag along. 

Schauffer ignored Melissa, limping up to her head of the table to read her notebook over her shoulder. “Good notes,” she sniffed, carefully stretching out to tear the page from her notebook to take for herself. “Now what’s all this?” She dipped her head up at Ted’s group.

“We want to help out with the missions,”  
Sam announced. 

Melissa didn’t know who was in charge. Maybe Sam, but Ted was fighting for dominance. 

“You do?” Schauffer blinked. 

Ted nodded, and everyone else copied him. 

“Oh, perfect. You’d have to pass the proper physical tests and training and practice first though. Yeah. You can talk to Doctor Adam about that, he’ll run a physical for you.” 

“Yes, and Schauffer can take you all to him because she should technically be under his supervision right now,” she collected her pens and papers from the table, flustered. 

“Well Doctor Adam is in the obby lab right now. So I think I can do whatever I please,” she gave a shrug but agreed to lead them all out. 

She handled things so smoothly, when Melissa was left along she began to groan again. Schauffer was the only one who could be in charge, and now she wasn’t even supposed to be leaving her bed. If she hadn’t snuck into the helicopter that day, the Brigadier wouldn’t have visited and wouldn’t have put a time limit on Schauffer’s mission. If she hadn’t ran off or let go of her bat then Schauffer wouldn’t be in such a bad state. She was the one putting a wrench in things. 

She yanked her ponytail out so her hair could fall down messily over her eyes and shroud her into darkness for a second. There wasn’t time to mope, she had to redeem herself. 

———————————————————

“Any luck?” Taylor leant over Melissa’s shoulder to see how she was going. 

“Uhh, Sorry, my memory is really bad today. He’s the man who owns the toy shop at the lakeside mall. Um, I’m sorry, I’m really blanking on names today.” 

“Something else on your mind?” They asked, tapping their finger on the observation class like a kid at a pet shop. 

“Just thinking about Schauffer,” she shrugged with a smile. “Um, his name is Frank, Frank Pricely,” she remembered. 

“Oh, aren’t we all?” Taylor scribbled his name down on the whiteboard outside the cell. “She’s totally in denial about it too. I mean, how’s it gonna get better if she starts walking on it too soon?” 

“That’s what I asked her and she told me it was healthy to start using it so the bone could get strong again.”

“Typical,” Taylor snorted. “But you know, at least it’s got those rumours down.”

Melissa fell silent at the mention. All the gossip and back talk about the colonel had stopped immediately, or at least gone underground. 

“Yeah, everyone wants her back on her feet. They’re busting their asses out on those missions. Both observatory labs are completely full. It’s because no one wants Savant to take over. I’d get kicked out in a second.”

“Kicked out? Sent back to Geological sampling, right?”

“Oh, no. Like, kicked off the mission. Savant is super traditional, and I am not traditional.”

“Ah,” Melissa pursed her lips shut. What a better reason for Schauffer to recover faster.

“She’s ate-up. Do you know what that means?”

Melissa shook her head, her hands balling up the baggy material of her second-hand PEIP uniform.

Taylor snickered. “It means she follows the rules so strictly she fucks us all over. Don’t tell her I said that.” As if to get away from that topic as soon as possible they lead Melissa over to run the next ID check on another cell.

She recognised the face from around the streets, somewhere pricey like Evergreen or Pinebrook. But again, she couldn’t focus. 

The observatory doors opened up behind her and she used the noise as an excuse to turn around. “Uh, Colonel Schauffer!” She snapped. “What are you doing up again?” 

She didn’t even look guilty. She hopped into the lab, quite used to her crutches already despite the fact she should probably be in a wheelchair. “Just came to check in on you.” 

“I’m getting everything done Schauffer, don’t worry. I got a new pile of paperwork sent to your bed for you to get done too, shouldn’t you go start that?” 

“Well I wanted to see who the morning squad brought in,” she yawned, squinting to look at the name Taylor had scribbled. “Huh.” 

“That’s his name!” Melissa swore, “I used to shop there all the time as a kid, it’s his name!”

“I wasn’t doubting that. It’s just a funny name.”

“Oh my god, Schauffer. Get back to bed,” Taylor looked up from the whiteboard they were sketching notes onto with a sigh. 

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Schauffer shook her head, her heavy eyes watching the man in the cell with content. 

“I’m going to go get Doctor Adam,” Taylor rolled their eyes. 

“Do that and I’m sending you back to geological sampling,” Schauffer raised her voice to call out the not-very-malevolent threat. She was more interested in the observatory cells. “Who’s this one, Melissa?” She tapped on the glass Taylor had earlier. 

“Uhh,” Melissa rubbed her forehead with her nails. “It’s Linda, Monroe I think? She‘s part of the boating society.”

“You’ve got a good memory, kid,” she rolled her jaw like she was chewing on something. “Oh, good afternoon Adam,” she tilted her head back as he approached with Taylor by his side. 

“Colonel Schauffer, you aren’t clear to be walking yet,” he crossed his arms around his clipboard. “You’re supposed to be laying down.”

“No, I’m supposed to be under your supervision. And I am, am I not?” She gestured around her to the lab. “Don’t fuss over it. If I can walk on crutches I’m fine.”

“Are you a Doctor, Schauffer?” Adam didn’t seem too impressed.

“No, but I’m the colonel. What are you going to do about it?” While there wasn’t a shred of energy or emotion besides exhaustion behind her words, she seemed fairly confident she could still do as she pleased. 

Melissa knew the colonel excuse wasn’t a card she pulled often. But she would be pulling it too if she didn’t trust anyone else to be in charge. “Colonel Schauffer, everything’s getting done, look, I’m ahead of both our schedules. I’m going out with the evening task force tonight and-“

“Since when?” Schauffer raised an eyebrow. 

“Can you two move this to the medical bay? Schauffer needs to be laying down,” Taylor chimed in helpfully. 

“I’ll walk you there, Schauffer,” she put a hand lightly on her back to guide her away. “I’m decided to go out tonight so you don’t have to worry about work not being done. I’ll keep an eye on everybody to ensure they’re all taking it seriously so you don’t have to worry.” 

“That’s not very safe of you to go without me.” 

“I’m capable!” She insisted. “I’ll take proper equipment with me today so I’ll be safe.”

“Oh don’t worry about it,” the clip of her crutches against the linoleum floor was covered things from going silence. She was surprisingly fast for someone with a shattered kneecap. She was almost using the crutches to vault herself, and Melissa was breaking into a jog to keep pace. “I’ve already got a new bat organised for you. You’re very good with them.”

“Oh, oh my gosh! Thank you, Colonel!”

“You can call me Schauffer now, it’s fine,” she managed a glance to the side as she moved. “You seem to like your bat enough. Guns don’t suit everyone.” 

“Are you sure? I thought you’d be a little upset, you know,” she tapped her fingers together. 

Schauffer looked down at her knee and waved it off with a limp, bandaged hand. “Because I got my kneecap bashed in by your old one? That wasn’t you, Melissa. I know you’ll be more careful next time. So will I.”

“Yes, Schauffer, I will. Promise,” she raced ahead to hold open the hospital door for her. 

“Thanks, Melissa,” she hopped through, letting out a groan at the paperwork waiting for her. 

She let the door swing shut, her nails finding their way back to her teeth to chew on. She didn’t want to lose the colonel’s trust. She took in a deep breath.  
“Just breathe, Melissa.” 

———————————————————

Melissa slid out of her seat in the helicopter, her legs shaky as they touched down on the ground.  
She was too sore to hold herself up, and clung onto a crate of provisions to get a seat for a second and rest her head in her hands.

It really wasn’t safe to go without Schauffer it seemed. Paul and Emma hadn’t cared about hiding themselves anymore, they were mad about losing Bill, and Emma’s brand new black eye was probably a driving feature too. 

There was a lot of running, the two had chased them around like a game of cat and mouse, teaming up to block off exits and entrances just to give them all a scare and throw them about a bit.

Everyone insisted on just shooting them, but if that happened when Schauffer was down and out she would hold it on herself, or even worse: on Melissa. And it was a difficult game to convince soldiers not to shoot when you had to be running at the speed of light. 

The haul was small tonight, everyone seemed a lot more focused on not letting Emma smack them over the head with Melissa’s old bat or letting Paul curbstomp them, the whole time the both of them were singing and laughing like it was all childsplay, like they didn’t know what they were doing. 

As she was trying to submerge the terrifying images swimming around her head one managed to catch her attention.  
She had been running down Nordstrom along side another soldier when Emma skidded into the other end of the street, blocking it off. She gave a teasing wave to Melissa, snatching the soldier by the back of the collar and tossing him to the floor. 

Melissa had spun around to backtrack as the soldier broke into a scuffle with Emma, but when she spun around she Came face to face with Paul.

Paul’s smile fell away just as fast, his hands found hers and they stared each other down. His eyes had never been so blue. “Melissa!” 

She wanted to break down in her friend’s arms rights there and just forget everything for a moment, explain what had happened to Schauffer and ask him why he had to do that to her, but just as quickly the panic set in. “Paul!” She called right back, and for reasons she didn’t think she would ever know, he let her go. And then he shared an unspoken glance with Emma, and she let her soldier go too. 

But it had still been a race back to the helicopter, and an emergency evacuation.  
No one got away without a few bruises. 

She tried to stand up, limping her way through the docking bay back into headquarters and down the medical bay to check on Schauffer. She would be restless by now. 

“Hello, Schauffer!” She tried to sound cheery as she headed in. “Are you doing alright? Can I get you anything?” She pulled back the privacy curtain squaring off her bed so that she could sit down on the bed besides hers. 

“Melissa,” she greeted. Schauffer was sitting up in bed, legs crossed and back hunched over the trolley table to work on her papers. She was still wearing half her PEIP uniform like she intended on doing work today, but she was dressed down to her tank top. 

She had seen her in it before when she leant Melissa her uniform sweater back in Hatchetfield, but she had been wearing her utility vest back then. Now Melissa could see all the scars, old and new, that traced angrily across her skin. 

She still wore a surplus of bandages tightly around her chest, but there was an old, deep scar snaking up her back. That looked like it must have hurt. 

Schauffer must’ve sensed her looking at it because she glanced up and gestured for Melissa to take a seat instead of staring. “I’m about to sign off on something very interesting,” she said instead. “It’s going to be a slight change to the uniform, a blue stripe around the cuffs of the sweater. That way we can tell the difference between our new uniforms and the outdated ones,” her eyes flicked back and forth between her sheet of papers. “I won’t let us have that incident again.” 

“That’s clever, Schauffer.”

“How did patrol go?” She asked, setting down her ball pen and pulling the table up as she settled back down to hide the scar. 

“Oh,” Melissa let out a whine as she flopped down on the opposing bed. “So tiring!”

“You look a bit roughed up, you weren’t hurt were you?” She rubbed a hand across her forehead to imply she was talking about the bruise on Melissa’s head. “Was it Perkins or Matthews?” 

“Hah,” she let out a noise, half-sobbing, half-laughing. “No. Not me. We ran into them, I think everyone got a bit of a beating but not me, I stood up too fast and hit my head on the helicopter.” 

Schauffer chuckled, blinking tiredly. “Yeah. It’s hard to get used to.”

“I’m such a rainbow,” Melissa picked up a pillow to drop it onto her face to block out the lights.

“Well, I mean- oh!” Her stern tone was broken by a loud laugh that made Melissa sit up. “You’ve picked up on a bit of cadet slang, have you?” 

“You don’t get a choice when that’s what everyone starts calling you. And it’s true, I mean, I am the new kid. They can call me that if they want.” 

“I thought you meant,” she interrupted herself to laugh. “I was going to say! You’re funny, Melissa. Have you ever had a partner?” 

“Oh, not really. Nothing serious. But I saw a very cute police officer today. They’re in the rehab centre!” She decided not to ramble about herself when Schauffer was the one in hospital. “Have you ever had a partner?” 

The question made her laugh. “No. Not me, Melissa. I’ve never been interested in that sort of business quite honestly, I prefer to focus on work.” She signed off another sheet, flicking it over to her finished pile. “What did you get up to today?” 

“Nothing worth it,” she sighed, laying back down but rolling onto her side to keep the conversation going. “I’m sorry. I wanted to be useful, I didn’t want you stressing out while you were recovering but turns out I can’t do anything much if you aren’t here to be in charge.” 

“Why were you so worried about that, Melissa? I saw you all over the place today, keeping up with both of our schedules is quite a feat.” She flicked another page into her finished pile. “It’s my job to do the hard work.”

“But you said-!”

“If you think I’m letting you get away with blaming yourself for my accident then think again,” she was still flicking through sheets like this was the most nonchalant conversation she had ever had. “I’m not even hurt that bad.” 

Melissa didn’t say anything in fear of saying anything wrong. 

“Don’t start feeling guilty.”

“Um,” It was going to take a lot more than that to fix her headspace though. “You’re really amazing Schauffer.”

Her whole face lit up red. “Thank you, Melissa. It’s nothing.” 

“You must be really good at this all.”

“That happens when you devote your whole life to your line of work, I’d be quite let down if I wasn’t,” she fixed her hair. “But yes, thank you. Who doesn’t love some affirmation?” She gave a look to Melissa, quickly figuring out she might be in the market for some as well. “You’ve really out done yourself today,” she pushed the trolley table away, laying down with a relieved sigh of her own. “So quit wasting that energy worrying about me. This is just a scrape.”

She wished she wouldn’t downplay it all so much, she wiped away the tears brewing in her eyes, resting her head on her arms to look over at the colonel. “I hope you’ll be better soon, Schauffer.” 

“Don’t even think about it. I know I will.” 

“Only if you quit trying to walk on it already.” 

“It’s good exercise,” she declared again. “Don’t tell me what to do, I’m the colonel.”

Melissa’s giggle was tired, and she could feel her body preparing to settle down for the night. “Don’t worry, Schauffer, I won’t.”  
As far as she was concerned, she wanted nothing more than for the colonel to stay the colonel, and the assistant to stay the assistant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to say quickly that thank you for all of your support !! I’m a little self conscious about this fic and so the positive reception has been so encouraging! Thank you so much!


	17. Dance of swords

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Schauffer heads back out to the field. Don’t ask if she was cleared for it yet though

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Peep the obscure reference back to a brief passing statement I made before taking my very short two month intermission of writing the sword fighting comment was so obscure but it was there I wasn’t just bullshitting this I swear lmao

Schauffer’s arrival was now always signalled by Melissa first, holding open the door so the colonel could limp through. 

“How’re things coming along?” Schauffer huffed as soon as entered the rehab lobby, taking one crutch out from under her arm to lean against the wall, her bad leg splayed out so she didn’t have to place any weight on it. 

Melissa held out a hand to take her other crutch for her like she was trying to be some sort of bellboy. 

The doctor was pacing over to meet her, reading from his clipboard. “Just about everybody pasted physicals, but only about four of the original twelve made it through,” he handed over the board, looking up at the matching faces sitting on the lobby couches. “Alright, who have we got here?” 

“Ted, Sam, Rob and Doug,” Adam waved a hand back to them. 

Schauffer looked up from the list to double check. “And they all passed all the training?” 

“We did, colonel,” Rob confirmed, standing up and taking his cap off. “So we’d all really like to help out if you’d let us.” 

“Don’t think I’m about to throw you all in the deep end.” She scanned through the papers to ensure they had passed the all the training with flying colours. She figured they would need some quick reinforcement considering she wasn’t allowed into the action zone until Doctor Adam finally takes his sweet time to clear her for work. She only had a week and two days to wrap things up and the data was saying Hatchetfield still had a population of about five hundred to get under control.   
“I’ll split you up into patrols of your own, a ratio of about six soldiers to one civilian. You can fill out a form in the filing offices to pick up a tranq of your own and a uniform. You’ll be on outskirts patrols strictly.” 

“So I’m not getting the chance to punch Paul in the face?” Ted questioning, a little disappointed. 

Schauffer shot a look of shock at Adam.

“Well he passed his training!” 

“Ted!” Melissa huffed. “You’ve got some bad motives!” 

“Well you heard the doc! I passed training so I can go,” he shrugged, snickering as Melissa’s cheeks turned red in her frustration. 

“None of you will be going anywhere near Perkins or Matthews,” Schauffer announced loudly enough to scare them out of even getting the idea. “Do you all see what happened to me? I wouldn’t try it. You’ve gone through all the terms and conditions? You know your liable to die?”

Saying that out loud never failed to make Melissa whimper. “They’ve all gone through them. I made sure for you, Schauffer.” 

“We’ve seen it all,” Sam stood up with his hands on his hips, his elbow knocking into Ted’s forehead. 

“That’s why we’d like to help, colonel,” Doug stood up as well so now Ted had to get up to join them, still rubbing his forehead. 

“That’s really nice of you,” Melissa cooed, blushing as she leant out from Schauffer. 

Schauffer patted her shoulder to tell her to keep quiet for a moment as she ran through the regulations. “Yes, couldn’t have said that better myself really. PEIP appreciates the risk you’re all taking but it’s important to know that while we’ll do our best to ensure your safety we can’t guarantee you’ll make it out alive. Understood?” 

They all nodded, hesitant but determined.   
“We really want to give back to you, on behalf of Hatchetfield,” Rob started off diplomatically. 

“You’re reversing an apocalypse, that takes guts, and a lot of man power,” Sam cleared his throat. “Thank you, Colonel.” 

“Just doing my job,” she signed off on their forms, passing the doctor his clipboard back. 

“Now, it was lovely to see you over here but shouldn’t you be laying down right about now?” Adam raised an eyebrow. 

Schauffer scoffed, grabbing her crutch back off Melissa and hobbling around on them. “I’m doing quite fine, Doctor.” 

Melissa raced ahead to hold up the door for her to let her out, lingering by her side. “Nothing is hurting, is it?” 

“I told you not to fuss, Melissa.”

She shut her mouth, pursing her lips closed and going silent. 

“Are you ready for this afternoon’s meetings?” 

She nodded. “Yes, I can handle them all! You should get through all that paperwork, it caught up to you while you were out after surgery. You lay in bed and I’ll take care of it.”

“Ugh.” Somehow, the worst part of being crippled was the paperwork.   
———————————————————

“Do you think you can get it done in time, Doctor?” Schauffer sat hunched over on her hospital bed to keep her elbows on her trolley table. It was the closest semblance she had to her desk. Hospital life was so incredibly grating. 

“Well I can get my team to have a shot at it. When do you need it by?” He let out a thoughtful sigh as he looked over Schauffer’s notes. 

”In a week. Preferably earlier, honestly. I don’t have much longer on this mission.” It was a little shameful to be a colonel getting kicked off a mission. But she wouldn’t let it get to her, she wasn’t a failure, she was going to get it done. 

“And you don’t want to use the old version of the vaccine?” 

She shook her head. “No. For Perkins and Matthews I need this one,” she tapped her desk firmly so the doctor understood it was important. 

He seemed skeptical but swallowed his doubt. “I’ll have a go at something like this.”

Schauffer wasn’t a Doctor. She didn’t even do that well when she was in school. She had no clue if what she was requesting was even possible. 

“Huh?” Behind her, Melissa was slowly waking up. She had slept in the hospital bed next to Schauffer’s every night since the incident, and not because she intended to, but because she was always coming back to check on Schauffer at the end of the day completely exhausted from covering Schauffer’s schedule on top of her own. “What’s happening?” She sat up.

“Go back to sleep Melissa. I’m just talking with the doctor, nothing you need to be concerned with.” The new vaccine she needed made was something she did not want Melissa hearing about. Her explanation for the doctor would have to wait until later. 

“No, it’s okay, I’m awake. I think I slept in a little bit.” She rubbed her eyes, trying to find her glasses. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright Melissa. There’s no work you need to be running off to. Get a bit more sleep,” she told her. “Doctor, I’ll have someone drop the final forms in your office later on. You can start work as soon as the papers arrive.”

“Oh!” Melissa jumped up, her glasses lost somewhere to the blanket. “I’ll do it for you right now.”

“Oh, no Melissa, you don’t have to-“ she couldn’t even finish her sentence before Melissa had raced out with the papers like she was making up for lost time. She let out a heavy sigh. 

“Has she got somewhere to be?” Adam gaped. 

“She’s just worried about staying on schedule I’m sure. She’s been very finicky about it since my little accident,” she grunted, laying back down in her pile of pillows. “She’s just trying to keep everything on track until I can get back on the horse. Speaking of which-“

“You aren’t ready to go back out yet, Colonel Schauffer. Are you sure sure Melissa isn’t feeling guilty maybe?” Adam suggested. 

“No. I told her it wasn’t her fault, she knows that,” Schauffer crossed her arms. 

Adam cast a doubtful look at the hospital doors that Melissa had just bolted out. “Well she’s a funny girl. And you can be a little gruff sometimes.” 

Surely Melissa didn’t think Schauffer was mad at her. Schauffer was never rude or short tempered with her. She rubbed her eyes with a tired yawn. “Oh I worry about that girl sometimes.” 

———————————————————

“Are you actually allowed to come out on one of these missions?” Ted asked as Schauffer scooted into the helicopter seats, her crutches taking up a little more room than what was comfortable. 

“This is your first time on the field, soldier,” Schauffer elbowed him. “I’m the colonel, do you know what that means?” 

“Yeah. You’re in charge of this whole operation.” Ted patted his hands on his knees. “But how do you hold a gun or a taser or whatever if you’re on crutches?” 

Schauffer just wanted the helicopter to finish filling up with soldiers, Ted’s first time in a helicopter would probably shut him up and she didn’t want any suspicions raised around whether or not the doctor had actually cleared her. “I’m an expert. I know what to do.” 

“And you aren’t worried Paul or Emma are going to be chasing you down at all?” Ted raised an eyebrow. He began to look around the helicopter like he was trying to flag someone down. 

Schauffer didn’t answer, she fixed her headphones on to tune into the comm channels instead, securing her helmet with clumsy fingers. Her hand was doing no better, and getting her fingers to move was tricky. “You should just be happy I’m supervising you today. You’ll be in better hands.” 

“I dunno. I’d kinda like to be with someone not on crutches,” he admitted, tapping a nail on her crutch. “You aren’t actually allowed out yet, are you?”

She pressed against her headset, blocking him out. She just couldn’t resist the thrill and excitement of being in the zone of action. She was bored of laying in bed doing paperwork, and Melissa was too busy with covering their schedules to tell her off.

When the helicopter took off it was like a breath of fresh air to feel the wind on her skin. She breathed it in, such a start contrast from the dry hospital room. 

She got a rush as the helicopter leant into the wind, soaring through the air. it was too late to turn around now. She was going to the field now whether anyone liked it or not.

The island grew closer and closer in the front window, and she leant forward just to get an inch closer.   
The air changed as they crossed the channel, there was a salty taste to it and below her the ocean roared angrily, waves slapping down on the Hatchetfield shore as if in warning. They coursed around the bridge that hadn’t been down in months.

Today they were landing somewhere different. Paul and Emma would probably be waiting for them at Oakley, so they had planned to land on the shore. 

It was a good start anyways, good for the new volunteer to find his feet and good for her not to take it easy. It was only supposed to be a scouting mission, capture a few people hanging on the outskirts of the island, the evening patrol would be picking up bigger numbers downtown later today. 

She purred as the helicopter touched down with a bump, ignoring the little jolt of pain in her knee. The blades slowed to a stop, and the soldiers began to file out. 

“How was your first flight, soldier?” She gave Ted a hefty pat on the back that made him snort as the air left his lungs. 

“It was really something,” he didn’t say he was scared, but he was frighteningly pale. 

“You sure you can handle it?” She asked, grabbing her crutches and slipping out, easing herself down very carefully. 

He nodded, stumbling about when he walked like he was dizzy. “Yeah I know I can. Can you, crutches?” 

She gave him a warning look. “Just try to keep up with me.” She split up the groups and fixed up Ted’s radio, starting to walk off and relying on him to follow her. “Do you know how to use that thing?” She gestured to his tranq. 

“I did the training, Schauf.”

“Schauffer. Colonel Schauffer to you,” she corrected him before he got too cocky. Their personalities were probably going to clash. “So your goal was to join in to get a chance to fight Matthews?” 

“Oh pretty much, yeah. What about it?” He shoved his hands in his pockets. 

Using crutches on sand was not very easy. She twisted their path slightly to head up towards the pathways. “Don’t put your hands in your pockets, Ted. You won’t be ready if you’re ambushed.” 

He nodded, pulling them back out to hold onto his tranq. “Oh yeah. I better then, one of us needs to be.” 

She grumbled, starting to miss how obedient Melissa was. 

Ted broke into a small jog for a moment to catch up to her side. “You aren’t cleared for field work yet are you?” 

“Oh shut it, Private.” It was hard to listen out for danger with such a chatty teammate.

“So, quick question, does this radio connect to the doctor?” 

“No,” she lied. She just wanted one catch, and then she’d happily oblige and turn herself in. But she couldn’t sit down signing papers all day. She’d rather die. 

Somewhere, under Ted’s incessant line of questions regarding her health and occasionally her sanity, she could hear singing. 

“And so do you plan on getting back back through your little HQ with no questions?” 

“Be quiet,” she told him, listening out. Her head swivelled to find from which direction it was coming from. 

Ted put his hands on his hips, pacing across the sand, he wasn’t impressed it seemed. “Do these guys know you haven’t been cleared? Excuse the questions but I think you can understand I’m just a little, tiny bit worried that both of us might die.” 

“Shh,” she hissed. She was getting closer as she walked up the path leading off the beach. The voice was deep and husky, and she recognised it from somewhere. 

Ted followed her up the path, his head turning one way and then the next in a lazy surveillance for any threats. “So if you get attacked is my best chance to run or did I sign a code saying I’ll stay with you?” 

“Be quiet!” She snapped, moving from a walk to a run, or a bit more of a hop considering her crutches. The sound was getting closer, and it almost seemed to be calling to her. 

“Wow, well you’re-“

“Shut up, Ted,” she balanced on her good leg to swing out a crutch in place of a hand. He needed to be quiet. “I can hear one of them and you’re not shutting your trap.”

He held up his hands in defence. He looked like he really had a real question now, but he understood the rules. He gave a poor imitation of a salute as he followed after her in silence. 

She could hear it clearer now. It was coming from an alley. That was a bad sign. But somewhere tangled within the melody was definitely her name. Not colonel, not Schauffer, but Claire. 

Almost at once the life came back to her. There was that adventure, that risk. It was a massive red flag, definitely not an average pedestrian. Hell, it was probably Paul coming back for seconds. 

But then on the bright side, she seemed to be partnered with a man who currently had no other ambitions other than knocking Paul’s lights out.   
On a side note, it was turning out that Paul and Emma didn’t have very many friends. “Follow me, very quietly,” she whispered.

She slowed her pace right down to a crawl, taking a moment to breathe in between each hop on her crutches. 

Now the voice was definitely calling her name, no mistaking it. She leant into the alleyway where the sound was coming from, instructing Ted to hold on to the back of her utility vest. 

It was unconventional, and he seemed very uncomfortable doing so. It was actually Melissa who inspired it, she would always grasp onto the back of her jacket to make sure they weren’t separated and Schauffer could still use her hands. 

“You watch your six,” she ordered him quietly, taking slow and cautious steps forward into the blue darkness of the narrow street. 

The midday sun was still pouring down from up above, hitting the top of the building at the dead end of the alleyway and greedily refusing to share with the rest of the street. 

But the sun shone like a spotlight, showcasing the silhouette of someone hunched over, perched on the corner of the roof. The sunlight was too blinding to look at, and she couldn’t see their face. 

But then their hands reached out, pointing at her, shaking their fist up and down, swinging it over. 

“Interpretive dance?” Ted questioned, pulling out his tranq like he actually knew how to use it. 

No. It was military speak. Schauffer’s heart skipped a beat. 

You. Hurry. Come here. 

Do not understand. She signalled back with a shake of her hand. 

The man atop the building made a circling gesture with his hand. Rally point. 

No, she signed back. While she couldn’t see their face or their eyes, she could see a PEIP uniform, and had a good view of the sleeve. There was no new band around the cuff, it was an outdated uniform. This was someone who was Infected. This was General Mcnamara. 

Hurry up, he signed again. You. Me. Come. 

Schauffer shared a glance with Ted. “You stay here. If I call for help you have permission to shoot.”

“Incredible,” he nodded. “Yeah, don’t die though.”

She pulled her shotgun out from her vest pocket. “Well the same to you.” She didn’t think she would be able to use it actually, the recoil would kill her bad hand. “Now stay still.”

Hurry up. You. Me. Rally point. Come here. 

She was surprised there was no signal for ‘get your ass over here to face me like a man, General,’ but he wasn’t being malevolent just yet, and she wanted to chew on him for giving her a combo midlife-identity crisis. She wouldn’t fall for his manipulation this time. 

So she obeyed her General like a good Colonel would, and limped down the alleyway, knowing there was only one way out. “General Mcnamara,” she addressed him as she neared the end of the alley. 

He jumped down from the roof, his boots landing with a clatter on a dumpster before hoping down onto the cobblestone. “Colonel Schauffer!” He clapped. “You’re looking great,” he took a long look at her crutches. “Had a bit of a run in with my friends it looks.” 

“Stop being a smartass. What did you call me here for?” 

“Are you really out in the field so soon? You can’t take a break, can you Claire?” 

“Alright. Call me colonel. I can be out in the field as soon as I like. I’m in charge of this mission.” She watched him circle her, she wouldn’t fall for this trick twice. “What did you call me here for, Mcnamara?” 

“You’re on crutches, do you have a death wish?” he pointed out again, his voice right behind her. “Because I could give you a hand with that if so.” His breath was on her neck. 

“Mcnamara, I’m not interested in playing tricks. Did you have something important to tell me? I am not afraid to tranq you.” And she wasn’t. She pulled it off her belt, there was absolutely no point in waiting when he was so close, but part of being so dedicated to her work was putting a wall between the thought and carrying out the action. It was a little easier said than done when it comes to shooting a General. 

He laughed. “Why won’t you take me up on my very generous offer, my colonel?” 

“Because you’re wrong. And I’ll show you if you take me up on mine,” she countered. “I prefer not being part of a hive mind.” 

“So you raised the ranks to become colonel? The military is a Hivemind, Colonel.”

She wasn’t letting him bother her this time. She fired her tranq but very spritely he dodged to the side. “Stand still,” She grunted, reloading it. It took longer than usual with her poor hand.

“You could be so much more powerful,” he offered, holding his hand open to her. “Everyone would like you, respect you, no questions asked. Isn’t that all you want?”

“I’m not in it for the power unfortunately, General. I live to serve, and to protect innocents from people exactly like you.” She wasn’t listening. She wasn’t listening. She was through caring what people thought. She only lived to serve. Serve against people like him. She wasn’t listening, and she was fine. The dart loaded into the chamber, and she aimed it again, he was standing so still. “I’ll have to pass on that offer.” Today she was going to bring the General back. 

“A shame.” With his hand still outstretched he snatched up Schauffer’s collar, yanking her right up to his frothing mouth. He was just as ready to act as she had been. 

She pushed him back with her crutch, severing his grip on her. 

He swept his leg under her boots while she was unbalanced and she fell back onto the ground, her crutch getting caught underneath her. 

The General was in battle mode, his mouth so full of the blue slime he wasn’t even singing. It was supposed to be a quick kill as he dropped down to grab onto her jaw, but she picked up her other crutch just in time to catch his drop.   
His weight came barreling down on the crutch and she used it so push him back despite the burning of her muscles. 

He was heavy, and her hand was broken, but all that was between her and death was her ability to keep the General away from her mouth. 

His eyes weren’t blue anymore, they were black, set on his wounded prey like a lion with intent to kill. This was the infection, the alien breaching the safety of its human skin, showing its disgusting face. 

She headed him up, rolling him onto his back but he didn’t let go, dragging her along and pulling her on top of him. One boot struck out at her stomach, kicking her off the crutch with such force she slammed back into the dumpster.

He got up, wielding her crutch in his hand, Schauffer had to jolt aside to avoid it as he brought it down, striking the metal dumpster. It let out a sound that rung throughout the alley, echoing down onto the streets. 

She got onto her good knee, tucking her head to her chest to roll over to her crutch, biting back a yell as her knee knocked against the concrete. She secured her other crutch, grabbing the handle to pull herself up, balancing on one foot and letting her back fall against the dumpster. 

She brandished the crutch out like a sabre only to see the General patiently waiting, holding out his crutch in a similar matter. 

“En guarde, Colonel,” he grinned, raising it up and waiting for her to do the same. 

Now was the perfect time to call for Ted. But there was something the General didn’t know. Something she had only ever admitted to Melissa.   
But sword fighting was her favourite class.

She swung the crutch down before Mcnamara expected it, getting a clean blow of his shoulder. He knocked it back but she parried by holding the crutch vertically, letting him push on it to try and break through and allowing her back to push up against the dumpster until her arms had folded enough under the weight to spring back, bringing the crutch around to thrust it at his waist, ducking her head as his crutch went above, trying to strike at where she was only seconds ago. 

He skidded back, his blue-stained teeth gritting. He wasn’t expecting this. He only took a second before lunging with the crutch again, just catching her shoulder. 

She sliced it away, only able to hold onto her crutch with one hand as opposed to Mcnamara’s two, and she countered with all she had, his blows were rhythmic and timed and she let her heart beat to the same pace. This was fun. 

Crutches didn’t make the same beautiful sound and swords when they clashed, but blood was rushing to her ears so she couldn’t hear it anyways.

Thrust, parry, thrust, parry, parry, riposte, thrust. 

She caught a high outside, beating him at his collarbone, parrying before he could swing for a low inside, hunching her back to get down to his angle without putting pressure on her knee. 

He rushed another blow and she countered, leaning her weight up against his crutch to break his blow. But then he stepped away, coming clean of the fight and leaving her nothing to balance on.

She came tumbling down to the ground again and he pierced the crutch down between the handle gap, pinning it down and rendering it a useless weapon. 

Her fucking knee had betrayed her. 

He plucked her crutch from her, casting the both of them away, they rattled and skidded across the ground, sliding out of reach. 

“You’re on your own now, Claire, you’ve got no other choice, sorry for the scare.” He got down on his knees, one hand pinning her good leg to the floor as the other reached for her neck. “Are we doing this the easy way or the hard way?” 

“Neither, asshole.” Her shattered knee protested the action, her bones screaming as she bent her bad leg, rearing it back to hit him in the face. 

The kick didn’t hold enough power behind it, only enough to make his hand withdraw from her neck and for him to gurgle on the slime he was holding on his throat to gasp for some air. 

His guard was down. She sat up, her bad arm hooking around her neck to hold herself up as she yanked her tranq off her belt and plunged the dart between his shoulder blades. 

Silence. She didn’t know if it would work. She was expecting him to strike back so she held her arms around his neck, preparing to choke him out of it came to it. 

But then slowly his weight on her became too much. His head lolled onto her shoulder and his boy gave way, pinning her to the ground. 

She let out an exhausted but relieved sigh as they both flopped down to the floor. 

She was going to need a couple pain killers in a moment once the adrenaline wore off. 

She tried to push his body off of hers, but he was a hefty man, and she couldn’t push him off with one hand, nor could she reach for her crutches. 

“Soldier!” She called out for Ted. She would need him to pass her crutches over at least, and he would have to carry the General back to the helicopter. 

“I’m here!” He came racing down the alley, firing a warning shot up into the air, triggerhappy. 

“Shit! Calm down, Ted!” She snapped, managing to sit up with the bulk of his torso’s weight being supported by her shoulder. “Can you give me a hand?” 

He let out an immature laugh that contrasted the danger of the scene. He was literally still drooling blue slime. “What’d I walk in on?” 

“Well you missed the best part. Just get him off me, soldier. Don’t touch his face.” 

Ted paced over at at a leisurely rate, rolling the General off the Colonel with his boot. “Do you want your crutches too?” 

“Take a guess.” Holy shit did her leg hurt after that. 

He collected them from where they were scattered across the alley, delivering them back before sitting the General’s body up against the wall.

Schauffer got onto her good knee, hopping up and clutching onto her crutches. Blood rushed from her head, leaving her a little dizzy. “Can you carry him, soldier?” 

“Yeah, probably. He doesn’t look too he-oh my god he’s heavy.” He let out a forced grunt as he hefted the man up onto his shoulders, wheezing. 

“Come on. This is a pretty big catch. They’re going to be thrilled we’ve got the General back.” She limped slowed than usual, trying to keep herself steady as her head spun. She had been hitting her head a fair bit lately. 

“So you’re gonna take the credit for the catch? Not gonna hide at all?”

“Oh of course I’ll admit to coming out here,” she began stiffly, troubling to focus on walking and talking and scanning. She spoke into her radio to call a rally back at the chopper. “I mean, what’s anyone going to do about it?”

“Oh, that’s fair,” Ted agreed, his voice a little strained from the weight on his neck. 

“No one had the authority to say, ground me or put me in detention. Only the Brigadier, and she won’t really care as long as work is getting done.”

“I guess so.” 

“I’ll get away with a slap to the wrist and the doctor will tell me I was reckless. But I needed to be back out here getting things done with my hands, I needed some first hand reports that we’re making progress. And oh boy,” she licked her lips to relish it. Bringing back her General felt like progress alright.   
“I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?”

———————————————————

“You did what!?” Melissa dropped the new stack of paper work she was holding onto the hospital floor. 

“Don’t make that face, Melissa,” she sniffed as she held an ice pack to her knee. “I was only out there for an hour or so.”

“With a broken knee!?” The girl spat. 

Schauffer nodded. “Yes, but I was fine. I don’t see the problem. Why are you worrying?” The girl had been so short on sleep lately that her temper was getting short it seemed. 

Melissa could barely articulate her thoughts. “Colonel Schauffer! What on earth would have happened if you ran into someone!?!” 

She blinked, taking a sip of her water and clearing her throat. “I did exactly what I did. I did run into someone, and I brought us both back in one piece.” 

“Yeah, but you just ruined your knee again! You’re probably gonna need a replacement at this rate!” She pulled at her hair, frozen to the spot. 

“Good,” Schauffer snorted. “Then I’ll be able to use it again. There’s nothing to panic about Melissa. Come take a seat and I’ll tell you about it.” 

“I don’t care about if, Schauffer! What if we lost you!?” Poison dripped from her tone, toxic. “Why’d you have to be such a dumbass!?” Her hands flexed, claws gripping at the air. 

Schauffer was a bit taken back. Melissa wasn’t one for strong language, nor talking back. “I’m the colonel.”

“So what!? You’re still human!” Melissa stormed forward, her hands hitting the side of the hospital bed so hard that it pushed it. 

“Melissa! Be careful!” Schauffer warned her, wincing at the jolt of pain through her knee that came when she shook the bed. 

“No! You first!” She snarled. “Oh I should’ve known something was up when you said you were happy to do paper work! Why didn’t I notice that!?” 

Schauffer shook her head, pressing the ice pack harder against her already numb skin. “You’ve been busy, Melissa.”

“Yes, trying to stop you getting up! I was trying to cover for you Schauffer, you know that! I just wanted to make up for letting you get hurt but you did it to yourself this time! How do I protect you from yourself?” She was almost roaring, her eyes wide and spittle flying with each word. She was grasping around the bed like she needed to hang on. 

“You do not have to worry about my decisions, Melissa. They don’t concern you.” She disliked this tone from Melissa and gave her a very pointed grimace to warn her to calm down and remind her who was in charge. 

“Well can’t you just put work aside and look after yourself for a second!?” 

Schauffer grunted, the corner of her lip turning up. She wasn’t going to be the first colonel, the first anything for that matter, to be kicked off a mission. She was going to keep it up even if it killed her. “I have to be prepared to die in my line of duty, Melissa.” 

“Well then can’t you just look after yourself for me then!?” She snapped before she could hold it back. She slapped a hand to her mouth to hide the choked sobbed coming out but to no avail. Her glasses became blurred as tears starting brewing in her eyes. She couldn’t look at the colonel any longer and turned on her heel to race out of the medical bay, leaving Schauffer in absolute silence. 

She clicked her tongue, forcing the ice pack hard against her knee, numb to the pain. 

Maybe this was the worst that could happen.


	18. Just listen to me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Schauffer and Melissa are tense

Hidgens hummed as he worked at his set up. He wasn’t worried about the colonel himself, not with his plan. 

The colonel and her squad would arrive at approximately twelve PM tomorrow, touching down in Oakley park. With Mcnamara out of the way she would certainly be planning on coming for Emma and Paul. But the whole of PEIP was insane if they thought they could to his children without going through him first. 

“Is it-“

“Yes, Paul. It’s all coming along fine.” The man had a habit of asking him about ten times a day since PEIP took off with Bill. 

“And it’ll work?”

“Yes. It’s an impeccable design.” He was putting his doctorate and the rest of the remaining Hivemind to good use. “That woman relies far too much on her tranquilliser, that’ll be her down fall.” 

Emma grumbled, her arms crossed from where she sat in Paul’s lap. She had been very quiet ever since she had started brandishing the black eye Schauffer had given her. “Well what if it doesn’t?”

“Don’t worry dearest,” Hidgens tutted, picking up his screw driver to tinker a little bit at a panel. “I’m sure it will. They work like clockwork. I’ve got a doctorate, dear. And frankly, that colonel is a a bit of dumbass.”

Paul chuckled, his fingers curling strands of Emma’s hair. “Yes. She came here on crutches.” 

“Yes, but she still got away,” Emma pointed out, tilting her head back to look up at Paul. 

He locked eyes with her for a moment before leaning down to kiss her. “Don’t be skeptical.”

“It’s going to work, dear. Unless for some reason they start using something other than darts,” he rolled his eyes with amusement. His dear child worried far too much. 

“What if they take you too?” 

Hidgens could feel Emma’s pangs of discomfort running down his spine like electric jolts. It was almost like she was projecting her negativity right into his head to spite him. “They can’t take me, Emma. All you have to do is sit still, I’ll put the gates up.” 

Emma snatched up both of Paul’s hands in hers and squeezed them painfully tight. 

“Don’t be scared, babe,” Paul kissed her forehead. “I know you trust Hidgens.” 

“We did exactly what Mcnamara said. We almost had that woman and she still got away. He was a lot of our man power. She’s knocking us down like pins. How many of us are even left?” 

“Emma,” Hidgens began warningly. He didn’t want her focusing on the negatives, she would get into his head. “Don’t make the rest of us panic.” He poured himself into the soul of the Hive for a moment to summon up some patience to lend to her. “Darts can’t penetrate metal.”

Emma’s breathing slowed down, but now he could feel Paul getting antsy. “What about um, Melissa?” 

“What about her?” Emma and Hidgens asked in unison. 

“We have to be careful with her, alright?” His order was a little shaky. Paul has had enough fun playing around with the patrols unfortunate enough to cross his path. He fed off the fear in their eyes and took joy in knowing that for some reason, the colonel was not allowing anyone to try to target them. They were invincible, but Hidgens was not. 

“If she comes, do not hurt her. Just bring her to me, alright?” Paul ordered. 

Hidgens nodded, delicately turning a screw into its place. “I understand.”

“You two must worry so much. The Hive will still survive, even if it’s just us three, we will thrive,” Paul got Emma off his lap so he could stand up, twirling over to Hidgens with intricate and quick ballet strides and hops. The Hive was still bigger than the entire PEIP platoon assigned to the Hatchetfield mission. “It looks great, Hidgens,” 

Hidgens tapped out a rhythm on the mental, his fingers smoothing down its sides before holding up the finished sheet of armour to show Emma. “I’ll take care of everything for the two of you, no need to worry!”   
———————————————————

“Where are you headed?” Schauffer asked Melissa as she was walking out of the medical bay. 

“Uh, I don’t- I was just going to do an ID check down at the main observation lab,” she turned on her heels to walk out like she didn’t really want Schauffer asking her anymore questions. 

“You just got back from the morning patrol, how was it?” Melissa hadn’t sat down with her since their fight. It wasn’t quite that that was worrying Schauffer, but more the fact Melissa hadn’t sat down at all. 

“It was fine, good, I mean,” she shrugged, fiddling with her glasses and biting on her lip. “Just normal, I did an outskirt patrol with Doug and some soldiers and it was nice. I dunno what you mean,” she pulled at her hair to try and comb out the knots she hadn’t had time to brush. “We brought back seven patients. I’m going to go check them out.”

Schauffer tried not to grunt as she sat forward, there being a slight pull on the stirrup that was now nursing her bad leg. “Oh, good. I’ve been needing to go to the obby lab too.”

“Oh, well, you can’t,” Melissa raised an eyebrow. 

Schauffer shook her head. “No, just grab my crutches.” 

“No Schauffer- I mean, why can’t you just- gosh, I don’t know, you can’t just stay in bed?”

The look on her face was enough to say no but Melissa was persistent on being on her own. 

Melissa readjusted her position, her shoes rooted to the ground because she knew she would have to argue with Schauffer on this. “What do you need to go down there for? I’ll handle it. You need to stay in bed, Schauffer.” 

She shifted to dangle her good leg off the side of the hospital bed to say she was getting out of bed regardless. 

“Schauffer, your leg is broken,” Melissa stated incredulously. “It’s an actual bone you have to rest. Don’t you like- uh, you know the bone is broken, don’t you?” She spoke in stilted sentences like she wanted to take back what she was saying every word, but kept realising it was to late to do so. 

“I have confidential and urgent business I have to attend to, Melissa. And doctor Adam hasn’t been showing himself today.” She was still glaring at her crutches. She’d drag herself to them if she really had to.

“Well he’s been really busy in that lab with that paper you gave him the other day. What is it?” She asked quietly, her voice still curious but lacking its usual enthusiasm. 

“Confidential, Melissa. And that’s why I have to be there myself.”

Melissa heaved a sigh, her shoulders falling. She closed her eyes for a second and pinched the bridge of her nose to think it over. “I’ll put you in the wheelchair, colonel.” 

“I don’t need that, just my crutches.” Schauffer was not getting in a wheelchair, that was a bit extra for just a broken knee. 

But Melissa wasn’t listening, and she unfolded the wheelchair in the corner of the medical bay to roll it over to her bed. 

“I asked you to get me my crutches,” she repeated. 

Melissa shook her head, not even engaging in a verbal conversation. She leant over the bed to ease Schauffer’s leg out of the hanging stirrup to ease her into getting off the bed. 

“I don’t need a wheelchair, Melissa.” 

“Schauffer, just do it,” she told her, not even raising her voice. Her eyes wouldn’t meet the colonel’s, she was busy fussing with the sheets and the stirrups and the trolley table. 

“No, that’s far too extreme. I can get around much easier on the crutches,” she pointed. 

“Schauffer,” a testing sternness came to her tone. 

“No.” 

“Schauffer!” Melissa’s hands clenched, her voice raising right up but coming down to a frustrated stage whisper, glaring Schauffer done. “Just get in. Just do it. Get in the wheelchair, Schauffer,” she smacked a hand against the handles of the chair. “Ah!” Melissa put a finger to her lips to silence Schauffer when she moved her jaw to try and talk. “Shh! Just get in and I’ll take you!” 

Schauffer clicked her tongue, trying not to growl out of habit. She eased herself down into the chair with a grumble. It wasn’t nice. It felt a little demeaning to have to rely on Melissa to get her around. 

“No one thinks your helpless for sitting in a wheelchair, Schauffer,” Melissa’s voice still had a hissy quality to it like she was still mad. “You have a broken knee. It is not that hard to admit you have to take care of yourself.”

“I’ll take care of myself once this mission is over. I only have five days, Melissa.” She crossed her arms, not sure whether she should be looking straight ahead or be turning around to face Melissa. 

Melissa groaned, giving the wheels of the chair a kick to get them going and begin pushing the chair. “But the rest of the platoon is still doing your job. We’re all capable, I know you hate it but right now you are the least capable of doing this job. And you can’t help that, your leg is-“

“Broken! I know, Melissa! I’m giving you an order to stop talking to me like that,” she snapped. 

“Schauffer I don’t mean it like that!” She tried to argue, kicking the door open with her foot and trying to remain balanced as she pushed Schauffer through the doors. “No one thinks you aren’t doing enough, everyone here understands your leg is broken and we all want you to just lay down!” 

“So you want me to just forfeit the mission, do you?”

“No, I-“

“Let the Brigadier take over?” 

“No Schauffer, that’s not what I meant! Don’t be temperamental! I just mean your knee is broken so why don’t you let me take care of you and your things?” 

Fortunately someone was coming out of the lab so Melissa and Schauffer could pass right through the door before it shut.

The lab was quiet, all the scientists busy at work. Even the four patients in the containment cells weren’t singing very loudly.

Schauffer gave a growl to warn Melissa that this was not over. 

Melissa let go of the handles to let Schauffer wheel herself off so she could head over to the cells. She got a glance of the girl’s face, she was red in the cheeks and teary. She had deep, dark circles under her eyes and she was biting on her nails. 

Schauffer tried not to make a big deal out of manoeuvring the chair around the corner of the desk space. She couldn’t stand people fussing or worrying about her, it was a bad look for Melissa, and the wheelchair was basically an open invite for anyone else in the lab to think she needed help when she didn’t. 

“Oh, Colonel Schauffer,” The Doctor looked up, blinking his tired eyes. “Good to see you in the wheelchair, it’ll be much better than the crutches,” he noted. 

Schauffer slimmed over it. She wasn’t accepting comments on the wheelchair right now. “How’s the plan coming along?” 

“Well we’re certainly working on it. Do you mind if I inquire as to whether or not you’ve ever studied Biomed? Or Psychology?” He waved up the crumpled piece of planning paper Schauffer had first given him. 

“Doctor, do you think I became the colonel of a federal paranormal military organisation by knowing what a nerve cell looks like?” She gave him a hard look. 

He let out a rough snort. “Yeah, maybe that’s why you think it’s fine to be walking around with a smashed kneecap,” he mumbled to himself, trying not to laugh too loudly. 

“Doctor. Is the vaccine coming along well or not?” 

He rubbed a gloved hand under his nose and stepped away from his workbench to evaluate. “Well, we’re going to create antibodies that’ll target the infected cells in cerebellum. I’m hoping it’ll get rid of any violent urges that they might be hanging onto but I can’t really get rid of the, y’know... sorry, this was a super specific order and it’s not really that easy. Plus, I can’t really beta test something so specific,” he looked thoughtful, his eyes still fixed on his laptop. ”Why is it so important?”

Schauffer sighed. “I thought that’d be the case.” She rolled her chair to the other side of the bench to look at the doctor’s laptop. “Well, I’m worried they’ve been infected so long that it might be starting to corrupt them.” A shiver ran down her spine at the thought of looking into McNamara’s eyes. They had been so dark, so inhuman. Nothing like the had ever witnessed with this infection.   
“I’ve been seeing a lot more violence and a lot less dancing,” she summarised. 

“Oh,” he nodded. “I might run some CAT scans on the infected. Compare the newer patients to the old ones. That’s a clever hypothesis.” 

Schauffer nodded, a little distracted. She wasn’t going to voice it until the vaccine was ready but she definitely wanted a new one for Perkins and Matthews. From what she had gathered through all her patient interviews and parole checks, the two of them didn’t seem to really have much going for them lifestyle wise. 

No one could tell her anything about Emma or her life except her father who did nothing but berate her, the only two people who seemed to know her and her story were an Infected Professor and her late sister. 

Paul on the other hand seemed to be a very anxious man. The witnesses of the meteor explosion that she had gotten the chance to talk to -Ken Davidson, Nora Brown, Bea Garcia, Amelia Robins- had stated that Paul had sung ‘I’ve never been happy,’ which was quite enough motive for Schauffer on her own to carry through with her new vaccine. She had spoken to his friends, Ted, Charlotte, Bill, Melissa -no, she didn’t want to be thinking about Melissa right now- they had all said Emma was his shining light, they had only properly met the day of the Apotheosis according to his friend’s accounts. 

Her new vaccine would ideally remove the violent memories: the murders, the violence, the blood and the beatings, but let them keep the memories of each other, Infected or not. 

She could be harsh, she liked her rules and getting her job done, but she couldn’t let them forget each other. 

“We’ve been pretty hard at work on this, Colonel. I’ve been up all night. Melissa is a saint you know, lucky you. She was up with us bringing us water and snacks and covering for anyone who needed to lay down. I’m surprised she’s still on her feet when she’s been working so hard.”

“She was up all night?” Schauffer asked, shooting a glance across the lab at the girl who was helping Taylor run the ID checks. 

“Well I told her to go to sleep, I heard she had the morning patrol. Not sure if she did though.” 

Schauffer bumped her fist against her thigh at a steady rhythm, trying to contain whatever new feeling was buzzing around her chest now. “I was going over to quarantine today to see the General,” she changed topics. 

“Oh yeah?” Adam was leaning back into his laptop. 

He was already returned to his work, Schauffer didn’t want to waste his time any longer. She wheeled her chair in a circle to roll herself over towards the containment chambers and up to Melissa’s side. “What time did you get to sleep last night?” It was a bit of a hazard to have someone out in the field without any sleep. 

“ I went to bed at midnight. It wasn’t that late,” she answered without looking down at Schauffer. 

She could tell she was lying, not just because of the doctor’s testimony, but the way she scrunched up her nose ever so slightly and balled up one hand. She had her tells. Still, she played it through and didn’t look down to see whether Schauffer believed her or not. 

“I’m going over to the quarantine bay across the hall.” 

“Okay, I’ll come and collect you in a moment. Then you have to do the papers I’ve set aside for you today. You’ve left them too long, it’s almost midday.” 

“Alright.” She began to wheel over to the door but Taylor collected the handles of her chair to push her. 

“This must be much faster for you, Schauffer,” they held open the door to get the colonel through, and while she was externally quite mad, she was happy she wouldn’t make a fool of herself trying to open up the door. 

“It is, Taylor. But that isn’t important. I’ll be faster on foot.” 

“I think you’re supposed to wait at least four weeks before even trying to walk,” Taylor suggested. 

“Pain killers,” Schauffer confesses with a click of her tongue. “Loads of them.” 

“I had my appendix taken out when I was twelve. I didn’t think I was ever going to walk again. You’ve got some guts getting up the day after surgery like nothing happened.” They pushed open the quarantine door. “Need help putting on a suit?” 

She shook her head. They hadn’t had an outbreak in quarantine yet since they started with the new vaccine. She would take the risk. She didn’t want to further agitate her knee by trying to bend it into something. “I’ll take it from here, Taylor. Aren’t you supposed to be helping Melissa with the ID checks?” 

“Are you two fighting right now?” Taylor asked instead. 

“We aren’t fighting,” Schauffer leant forward in her chair. “Why? what is she saying?” 

Taylor shrugged. “She’s just been very upset ever since you got your knee done in. And she’s been a wreck since you went out yesterday,” they made a whistling sound, nodding curiously. “Maybe you should check in on her when you have a second.” 

“I’ve got it, Taylor. I’ll take it from here,” she repeated, waving the scientist off. 

“Alright, ‘m just saying,” they held up their hands in defence as they paced off. 

Schauffer shook her busy head. It was another one of those days where she was going to keep getting sidetracked, but she knew someone who could fix it. She rolled her chair through the second set of doors and into the hall. 

There were about twenty beds lined up. The room was sterile and the smell of cleaning products made her eyes water. 

Each bed was filled with someone sleeping, their chests quietly rising and falling underneath the sheets as their bodies sewed themselves back together. 

She recognised Mcnamara from the moment she entered, even with everyone wearing the same hospital gowns. She hurried to him, tucking in her chair besides his bed and resting her arms on his mattress. “Nice to see you again, General Mcnamara.”

She felt relief again. It was a quiet space here, a moment of reprieve. No one was going to bother her with questions or requests or tell her to get back to bed. And here she was by her general’s side again.

Even if everyone else was going to ruin the mission for her by keeping her down, at least the General would be here to take over her position instead of the Brigadier. She had that solace at least, even if it was hard to face. 

“I’m very happy to have you back,” she told his sleeping form. “There’s so much going on, it’s all been absolute hell. You have no idea how many papers I’ve been through, it’s insane!” She held up a hand to show off the ink marks on the side of her palm. Not that he could see. 

She hung her head, laughing quietly as she shook it. That was silly. 

“Once you’re all shaped up, I’d love to have you back on the mission.” 

As if he was summoned to wake, the General stirred, just slightly. His hands clenched around his thin sheets, his eyelids fluttering. When they opened they were electric blue. They were hazy and clouded, staring up at the ceiling sleepily. 

“Hi, General Mcnamara,” she greeted him gently. 

He was quiet for a moment as his senses returned to him. And after what felt like forever for Schauffer he rolled onto his side. It was a slow, tedious process, his body still aching and sore. He stared her in the eyes for a moment as if reading her mood. Then, a familiar yet tired smile came to his face. “Who had any clue you were that good at sword fighting?” 

She took a second to process it, thinking maybe she had misheard him before giving him a laugh. “You were a worthy opponent, General. How are you feeling?” 

“Exhausted, Colonel. I don’t seem to remember what happened. It’s all a bit foggy.”

She nodded. “Someone will debrief you when you’re moved to the rehab centre. You’ve been cured of the Apotheosis, Mcnamara. You were a bit of a tricky one.” In the General’s context it was a compliment. 

He glanced down at her wheelchair. “Trickier I imagine with that.” His eyes shut for a second like he was remembering something. “The Hive does not like you,” he chuckled gruffly. 

“Figured,” she tapped a hand on the hand rest of her chair. 

He cleared his throat, his voice sounded dry. “We were banking on you bringing your little friend with you to the alley. We were going to separate the two of you,” he recounted a little bit grimly. “Paul Matthews wants her back. But he wants you dead.” 

“Yikes,” Schauffer gritted her teeth. For once though, she didn’t want to talk about work. She just wanted to reunite with the General, her idol. “I’ve never lead a mission on my own before,” she confessed. “Never been this high up. So I’ve got to ask, how do you do it?”

He blinked, a little bit confused. “Well Colonel, it looks like you’ve been doing incredibly so far.” 

She swallowed, biting down on her tongue. She was going to ask about the paperwork. She was not expecting a compliment, especially not so genuinely from her General.   
Her eyes went wide, staring as she tried to think of something to respond with.

“There’s nearly no Hive left. You’ve taken care of it all. Quite frankly we were all a little surprised to see you on the island so many times. Ask anyone else how many task forces they’ve been out on this month, huh?” He chuckled. “You must have been going out twice a day. That’s nearly fourteen times a week, lady! Don’t those bones ache?” 

She rolled her eyes fondly. “Don’t flatter me, General.” 

As he shifted his legs the thin, white sheets rustled. “You’ve earned a rest, Schauffer. How have you been living that life with a broken leg, huh?” His voice was rumbly from a sore throat. 

“I haven’t, actually. I’m barely allowed out of bed. I’ve been doing paperwork for hours.” She took in a slow breath. “It’s been Melissa who’s been...” she trailed off. 

Schauffer had been scolded before for her insane work drive. And she was still so wrapped up in it arguing with Melissa that she hadn’t had time to thank her for not only covering Schauffer’s schedule, but hers as well. “Sorry, General. I think...” 

There was a knocking at the quarantine doors, Schauffer turned around to see Melissa through the glass. 

“I guess that’s your ride?” He joked. 

Schauffer nodded, backing up. “We’ll have a talk tomorrow, General.”

“I look forward to it, Schauffer.” She could tell he was going right back to sleep.

Melissa held open the door and Schauffer slid through. “You were in the quarantine room without a suit?” She questioned, snatching up the handles. 

Schauffer just nodded. “Yes Melissa, I was, I took the risk, didn’t think about it.” 

Melissa was quiet for a second like she didn’t know what to say. “Um. Well, don’t do that again.” 

“I won’t, Melissa.” 

She rolled her out into the halls, Schauffer could tell she must have been tired. There was no need to make her day any harder by resisting. 

“You’re going to go do those papers now, alright?” There was something strange in her voice, like uncertainty or fear. 

She nodded again. “Alright then, I will.”

“Oh, good.” Melissa licked her chapped lips, taking in a breath of fresh air to fill the silence. 

Schauffer crossed an arm over her chest to rest her hand on top of Melissa’s. 

“Yes, Colonel?” She asked. 

Schauffer shook her head, leaving her hand there a second longer before withdrawing. “Thank you for your work, Melissa.” 

It caught her off guard it seemed, so she didn’t find time to answer before they entered the medical bay. Melissa carefully helped her up into her bed, setting up the hanging stirrup again. “Are you comfortable?” 

“Yes, thanks.” She pulled over the trolley table, searching for a pen. 

“Here,” she produced one from her pocket, it was her fountain pen. She set it down, rubbing her eyes. “You get that done. No more standing up for today, you have to give the bone time to heal. You can’t keep walking around on it, alright? You’ll only make it worse. I’ve got to go help out with the parole tonight. I’ll come check on you afterwards if you’re awake.”

A flutter of anxiety burst inside Schauffer as she cleared her throat to keep Melissa’s attention. For a second, she debated whether or not she even had the emotional capability to speak up, but she had to, for Melissa’s sake. “That’s very bold coming from you,” she began stiffly, clearing her throat again. 

“Huh?” Melissa winced. “What is?” 

“You can’t be telling me how important it is to rest when you haven’t stopped working since the accident.” 

She snorted. “Well my bones aren’t broken, are they?” She joked. “I’ve been getting plenty of rest.” 

“No you haven’t, don’t bullshit me. Come and take a seat.” 

Shocked, Melissa stood still. She was blinking and shaking her head in surprise like she didn’t know what Schauffer had just said. She crept over shyly, taking a seat on the bed beside hers. 

“You’ve been covering all my meetings, doing all the parole and the paper delivery, I hear you were up all night and then this morning you went out in the field with no sleep, ran ID checks in the afternoon and now you want to spend your evening volunteering at parole?”

“So what? I’m busy, you’re always busy too,” she countered. 

“Well you have to agree that going into the zone of action completely sleep deprived is a dumb move, be reasonable,” she turned it back around. Schauffer knew how to handle an argument, but Melissa was barely even the type to raise her voice. 

“Less dumb that going out there with a broken leg and a broken hand! It’s just a little sleep deprivation! Study actually shows you can perform complex tasks just about the same when you’re sleep deprived!” She stood up again. “Schauffer, you want to be out in the field so badly, so I know that area of work has got to be important to you! Listen, I promised you that day that I was gonna he your new assistant. I was going to do the best job to help you out and I am, alright? You looked so stressed that day, so tired of it all, and I didn’t want it to be like that for you! Let me cover!” 

“No,” she clicked her fingers back at the bed to demand she stayed. “You’re tired, Melissa. You’re feeling guilty. You need to get some rest. You’re going to destroy your mental health,” she just wanted to sound reasonable. She didn’t want to make any rash movements when Melissa had clearly been a straw away from breaking for days now. “I’ll rest my leg if you rest too.”

“Its just in my head, colonel. I can get over it,” she insisted, her hands playing with the blanket nervously. “Don’t worry about me, worry about yourself.” 

“It’s bullshit, Melissa. Mental health is not more important than physical health. Especially not here, even our therapists have therapists, kid. Do you need to see someone? You can’t fix this all by pushing yourself.” 

“No, no!” Melissa spat, shaking her head so hard she was shaking her shoulders too. “I’ve told you, it’s my fault you got hurt and it’s my fault your mission got shortened! I need to make it up to you!”

“I’m not even mad at you, Melissa! You’re only holding yourself to that and I’m concerned! You need to at least get some sleep!” 

She let out a frustrated but stifled yell through gritted teeth like a growl. “Let me just do it my way, alright? I know I’ll be okay. I promise I will be. I know when to stop.” 

“You don’t, Melissa. And you’re getting reckless.” She bit down on her tongue, easing herself forward and resting her elbows on the table to take the pressure off her back. “Being in that headspace and being in a zone of action don’t work very well. Uh,” she scratched her neck. “I would know, I’d know. There was a time many years ago, I’d lost my best friend on the force because I hadn’t been watching their back properly, I blamed myself, I do to this day.”

“That isn’t the same, Schauffer. That sounds so much worse. I’m not that depressed I’m just doing my work, okay?” She was tweaking her glasses like they kept falling off. Melissa began chewing on her nails again. 

“No, Melissa. Just listen, alright?” She began to bump her fist on the table to remind her heart to slow down. “I don’t like to talk about this story, people don’t know it. So can you just listen?” She chuckled bashfully, “and then preferably never repeat it and forget it immediately.”

Melissa wasn’t in the mood for jokes, she just looked sickly worried. She nodded her on to hurry her up. 

“So I got into an accident a couple years back. Every one thinks they know about it. They think I got caught and roughed up, I got a very nasty scar.” 

“T-the one on your back?” Melissa pointed a shy finger. 

She nodded, chewing on her lip as she adjusted her tank top with one hand to tuck away the scar. She didn’t know Melissa had ever seen it. “But it’s not the truth, Melissa. Believe me, I’m not that bad on the field,” maybe she was joking because she was nervous. “I had been living with that much guilt that I let it happen. I thought I deserved it, that it would make up for what I let happen to my friend. So I didn’t fight back. If Mcnamara didn’t step in I would’ve bitten the dust.” She bit down hard on her lip, preparing for the memories to arise, for the guilt to come back. She was banging her fist harder on the table, but then she caught sight of Melissa, and she found it in her to slow herself. “I talked it out with him, and instead of getting all sappy like I hate he just got me a counsellor. So, I want to pass it along.” 

Melissa gulped. 

“You don’t want to see the scar, Melissa. I mean, why do you think I wear such a stupidly high collar?” God, she just wanted Melissa to say something. She couldn’t stay in silence like this. 

“Colonel Schauffer, I really do appreciate hearing this story, and I appreciate that you care, and that you want to give me a hand, but I just need to prove it to myself, okay?” She spoke slowly and steadily like she was scared of what Schauffer might say. 

She ran through her head for a response, trying to think quickly. “There’s a stigma around seeing a counsellor, I know, but they’re very accessible here and I think it’ll be good for you.” 

She shook her head, looking as calm and sane as she had ever been in the past few days. “No, Schauffer. I have to prove to myself that I didn’t mess it all up, and then I’ll be fine again.” 

“Melissa, really.”

“Just let me, Schauffer. I know it’ll work,” she stood up, collecting her clipboard and her her bag from the bed. “So don’t worry for me. Promise.” And with that, she was gone.


	19. Smoke and mirrors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Schauffer is still stuck in bed, but Melissa’s got a good way to prove herself

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Melissa says no show stopping number rights & sorry Hidgens is extra and I had to

Four days left before the Brigadier takes over things. 

Four days left and a population of eighty-seven left on the island. She was so close she could almost taste it.

Four days left and the Brigadier had been emailing her every couple of hours for updates, and what was she supposed to say? 

Four days left and Melissa was not talking to her. This made things very tense for the whole organisation. She wished Mcnamara was back on his feet, then she would be sure good work was getting done. He would have a much better idea of what to do. 

The tricky part of weaselling down this population to here was that now they were getting hard to find. She had ordered out helicopters to get arial views and doubled the patrols. She needed something to show the Brigadier, she knew she could do it. 

She wouldn’t show any nerves though. She had been out to chat with Mcnamara this morning, she wanted him to tell the doctor it was alright for her to go on the next mission but anyone with half a brain could see she wasn’t. 

The doctor didn’t give her clearance to go either, he very strongly advised against it. ‘But what were they going to do?’ She said, ‘cuff her to the bed?’ Well, maybe she should have held her tongue on that part. 

There was a unanimous decision in the organisation to not let Schauffer go out again after ruining her knee so badly, and she was going to have to spend the day locked in the medical bay. There were no exceptions to be taken with the colonel, they knew she was tricky. 

Fortunately enough, Mcnamara had snuck a laptop into her bay for her under the guise of having some important emails on it, but what he had really delivered was a live feed of the arial helicopter, and she was glued to it. She watched the first squad helicopter touch down in its usual place in Oakley park before the arial helicopter flew on. 

It moved down Pinebrook and down Evergreene and past the lakeside mall and Nordstrom all the way to the other side of town. 

It hovered for a moment, spotting something.

Schauffer could see it too, a tall man standing in the middle of the road. He looked composed and comfortable like he was waiting to be discovered.

She heard the pilot page the second helicopter through the radio feed. That was Melissa’s helicopter. 

She didn’t like how calm he looked. It only meant he could be up to something devious. The Hive was a player of games, and she was certain this was another one of them. 

———————————————————

Melissa was tapping both of her feet out of time on the floor of the helicopter so she could focus. 

Apparently the arial helicopter had spotted someone on their own, an easy target. 

She was a little bit happy to be back out in the field, the bat Schauffer had gotten for her had finally shown up and she was aching to use it. She was trying not to linger on the fact that Schauffer hadn’t been the one to give it to her though, she had handed it off to someone else to deliver it. They weren’t really getting along right now. Melissa leant forward, resting her elbows on her knees and brushing her fingers over her pants, drawing patterns. Her head was a mess, she couldn’t wait to get her mind off it with a bit of field work.

In fact, when the helicopter landed a message was passed through the comms that the target that had been sighted was commonly seen with Paul and Emma. If she could take him out, she would certainly feel she had proved herself. 

She gripped onto her bad and slid off her seat to clamber down the landing skids besides the other soldiers. 

“You don’t want a gun or anything?” Ted, who was also assigned to the outskirt mission squinted. 

“Oh, you have no clue how hard I can swing with this bat,” she smiled, raising her bat up to demonstrate a swing. 

“Hey, careful with that, Melissa. You don’t want to take out your team mates teeth,” Doug warned. 

“Hey, I’d pay to see it,” Sam stood behind Melissa, his hands placed on her arms to guide her into the right swinging position. 

“Sam!” Rob snipped. “Listen to Doug.” 

Melissa sheepishly lowered her bat, brushing her hair behind her ears and bringing down her visor to hide the blush on her face. 

“Hey, rookies. You gotta stick by us,” one soldier waved them right over. “Don’t mess around. There’s an easy target up ahead, anyone want some practice?” 

“This guy should go, we’re trained.” Sam gestured with his thumb to himself and his crew. 

Ted rolled his eyes but held back a quip, yanking his tranq off his belt like he thought he was the main character of an action hero film. “Who am I aiming at?” He asked. 

Melissa scampered after him, peering out over his shoulder once he had been lead to the right spot. 

“Where?” Ted asked. 

Melissa could see him. An elderly man standing at the end of the road, he was wearing something strange, Melissa tweaked her glasses but couldn’t quite tell what it was.

The way he was just standing there was what scared her though. She took in a deep breath to calm herself but it got caught in her lungs. It reminded her too much of the way Bill had been standing when they were jumped by Paul and Emma. Back when Schauffer nearly died and it was her fault. It was a trap, she had to warn them, but nothing was coming out, she couldn’t move. 

“Woah, hey! Fuck that!” Ted’s shout pulled her from her stupor. “I know that guy, and he’s fucking nuts!” Ted pointed, looking like he was finding it hard to lower his voice down. 

“What? Who is it?” The leading soldier asked. “I’ll handle if it’s such a big deal.” 

“Hey, I’m not fucking with you man, this guy is out of his head. He got himself infected on purpose,” Ted pulled at the soldier’s utility vest. 

Melissa pursed her lips shut to stop her jaw hanging open, trying to get a better look at him. 

“Well what, do you want me to ask the colonel for permission? Who is he?”

“He’s a professor, Emma’s professor or some shit. He has a doctorate and his whole house is like a fortress!” 

Melissa’s jaw dropped right back open again, her heart in her throat. “The professor, did you say?” She grabbed Ted’s sleeve to get his attention. 

“Yeah! He fucking kidnapped me in his fucking dungeon or some shit!” There was a bit of a break in his blind fear for a second and he hunched down to level with Melissa, bringing his voice down for the first time all day. “Honestly though? He has some killer music. He’s been working on this musical, and you should really hear it.” 

“I’ll take the shot,” she stuck up a hand to volunteer. “I’ll do it if he’s too scared.” 

The soldier nodded, impressed. “That’s a little eager, kid. Go ahead then. You sneak up and take it. I’ll cover you. You four stay right here, watch each other’s backs.” 

“Yes, Lieutenant,” Doug nodded, arms crossed. 

Melissa had never really needed to learn the proper stealth crouch, and she tried to visualise what Schauffer always did in her head. She had to sink each step down to her knee, and it was all about walking on her toes rather than her heels. She sort of had to tuck her back in but at the same time it didn’t matter if she did it right or not. This was a trap, so she had to take it.

For some reason, Paul wasn’t letting anyone hurt her if he was nearby, so surely it’d throw a few rocks in the works if she was the one to walk into this trap. She’d bring the professor back, prove herself to Schauffer, and then get some valid Emma information out of him. Getting to rub it in Ted’s face was just an added bonus. 

Half way down the street she gave up the dumb crouch much to her supervisors fear. She pulled out her tranq, aimed and shot. 

She was expecting it to strike as it normally would, taking him down with a satisfying thump and getting to carry him back to the chopper. But the dart bounced off. 

“What the fuck?” The lieutenant muttered, one hand reaching out to grab Melissa’s shoulder in an attempt to pull her back to safety and take the shot himself but the man turned around, and underneath the white lab coat he was sporting was a sheet of steel armour. 

“Oh my gosh,” Melissa gasped. She couldn’t believe she was actually seeing that right. There was no way a dart was getting through that. 

The man cleared his throat, and despite being all the way at the end of the street she could hear it clear as day as if he was connected to some sort of microphone. 

“The guests of the hour have finally arrived,” he spoke calmly, his voice smooth and settled. “And I’ve prepared a little something for you,” he held out a hand. 

The lieutenant was rushing to pull his team together, keeping the volunteers in the center and speaking loudly into his radio.

Faintly, Melissa could hear some sort of playback. He was definitely attached to a speaker. 

“Alexa,” the professor announced. “Intruder alert.” His voice cut clear through the silence, everyone listening for his words. 

There was only a second of still before a rumble was released from the speakers. The streetlights ticked and hummed as the globes warmed up inside their casings. They turned on, shrouding the street in a deep, red light. 

The noise in the speakers dropped with Melissa’s heart as they began to tune in and crackle with each other. 

The overhead lights flicked to a deep purple, and the speakers began to play some sort of screeching, heavy sound.

But it wasn’t the speakers at all, all down the streets the doors on the houses were swinging open, and things were coming out. Melissa couldn’t tell what as the lights began to change colours even faster, strobing black and white and red and purple and blue and then the speakers started for real, blasting a loud, piano and electric guitar heavy song. 

Melissa couldn’t locate or hear where her team mates were. The flashing of lights made it too hard for her eyes to focus, voices started coming through the speakers and she whipped around, where was any of it coming from? 

She let out a yelp as something swung low, hitting the back of her ankles and sweeping her legs out from underneath her. She hit the floor with a grunt, rubbing her hip. 

She pulled her visor off her face, it was too tinted and only making her vision worse. For a second she had a clear view of the street and it was so hard to believe what was happening she didn’t even try to stand up.

The whole street was lined and swarmed with machines, at the very end, four smoke machines had been set up and were already pouring fog out into the clearing, distorted by the lights. There were security cameras posed up on every roof tracking the movements of the PEIP soldiers and most unbelievable of all, she swore she must have seen it wrong, some sort of low crawling droid, her best guess was some sort of robot affixed to the top of a Roomba or a pool cleaner. And surely there weren’t this many soldiers on the field before.

But without her visor on the lights were too bright, like staring right into the sun. The visor had to come back down and her visibility vanished ahead. 

She tried to get back to her feet, scrambling away from that robot that had knocked her off the ground. It was impossible to see what made it happen but clear as day she could see that neon blue slime shoot out of the machine. 

“Damn it!” She crashed backwards into someone, one hand reaching out to their shoulder to try and balance herself before she could fall again but whoever it was trapped her to steady her balance.

“Doug?” Came the questioning voice.

“Melissa, Ted?” She couldn’t see, it was impossible to make out a face. 

“Yeah. What the fuck is going on!?”

“I don’t know! Just-“ her words were strangled as someone gripped her around the collar of the vest and threw her to the ground. 

“Hey, What the hell man!?” Ted snapped, pushing back whoever had grabbed her. 

From the ground she could see it was someone else from PEIP, they had the same black suit and visor on but now they were trying to tackle Ted too. 

“Oh!” Melissa exclaimed, crawling out of the way as the two of them pushed against each other, trying to throw the other down. “He’s not with PEIP! He’s one of them!” Melissa cried out, hoping Ted heard over the blasting of the speakers. He had an outdated uniform, no blue band around the sleeve. God, the field was Infected. 

Melissa shot back up right from underneath the Infected soldier’s stomach, shoving her shoulder up into it’s gut and sending it stumbling backwards and tripping over one of those crawling robots. 

Ted pulled Melissa into his chest to keep her clear of his tranq shot. Fortunately they weren’t wearing armour too, and they didn’t get back up off the floor. “Fucking hell! Are you okay Melissa?” 

She could barely hear his voice, even when she was tucked right under his head. She nodded. “I’m gonna try and get to him!” She pointed out across the field to wherever the professor was, he was completely shrouded by fog now. 

“Mel, leave it to the experts!” We should evacuate.

“No, you go! I’ve got to do this!” She tried to dart off but he grabbed her wrist.

“Says who!? I told you, he’s fucking nuts! Come with me!” He pulled on her but she tore herself free. 

“How’re you gonna tranq him? You can’t hit him!” 

Melissa gasped for a second, quickly shutting her mouth and coughing out the smoke. She pulled her bat off her back, raising it up. It was like a lightbulb moment. A tranq wouldn’t work, but a bat would. “Oh! I can do this! Ted, try and get everyone out of here!” She pushed herself off him to launch herself into the battle field, her run turning into leaping strides to try and keep herself off the floor as much as possible. 

With the smoke and fog she couldn’t even see her boots. The smoke was burning her nose, making it hard to breathe. She could feel it smothering their pores and filling their lungs. She pulled her run to a stumbling halt, something on the road was slippery underneath her shoes. 

She unclipped her utility vest, dumping it onto the floor. She pocketed her tranq, so nothing else would be useful. She held her bat between her knees for a moment to take her sweater off, pulling it up around her mouth to block out the smoke in the air. 

Then it was back to running. The closer and closer she got the wetter the road grew, and the louder the music got. In addition to the firing of gun shots and the screams and shouts and singing, she felt she was going deaf. But somewhere under all that noise was the whirring of the arial helicopter up above. 

She didn’t know which way she was going any more. She thought she was running in a straight line but that only ever revealed itself when the lights flicked white and for a split second she could see a few feet ahead. 

A drone bumped into her leg and she swung a foot to kick it over before it could shoot that slime. 

It let out an alert as it’s wheels came off the floor. 

“Hey, you!” Someone called her, their voice twisted by the sound. She didn’t recognise it. 

“Huh?” She turned in a slow circle to see if she could locate a figure. 

Somewhere in the smoke a face came out, body still cloaked in mist. “You need to get back to the chopper, come with me!” 

“No, I’ve got to do this!” She snapped, her words falling on deaf ears. 

“No! You’re a rookie. Come with me! You have to!” 

Who was it? She couldn’t make out the height or the voice or even the body type.   
She squinted, a hand going to her visor to try and block out the party lights, she was getting a migraine, or maybe that was the fact she hadn’t sleep in the last thirty hours. “It’s okay! I know what I’m up to!” She put one hand over one ear, leaning in to try and see him.   
Something went off inside her gut. How did he know who she was? Not even Ted recognised her, and that was when her sweater wasn’t covering half her face. “What’s your ID?” She called into the smoke, and then the face vanished. 

Chills ran down her spine, making her legs shaky. That was one of them. They were all over. She had to keep running, but in the moment she had stopped something else had happened to the floor. Whatever was making it wet was rising, it was poking around her ankles and it was thick and viscous, pulling at her bones when she tried to lift her leg to move. 

Pulling herself out of the tar like substance took such effort that their joints were aching from use only after a few steps, faltering her steps, she couldn’t leap anymore.

It felt exactly like walking through a nightmare, the pull was growing so intense as she grew wearier that running was useless, her sight so obscured that it went no where. The smoke was hot and overwhelming and made her lungs burn with every breath. There were violent and dangerous enemies hidden all around her, and they would be impossible to differentiate from her allies. 

The only clue she had she was going the right way was that the music kept getting louder and louder. She swung her bat out near the floor to ensure she wasn’t about to crash into anything as she trudged on. 

There was nothing left to see anymore. She couldn’t even tell when the lights were changing colour. It was all just blackness and darkness. She didn’t even know if she was still walking. 

“God, Melissa! Is that you? What are you doing!?” Someone grabbed her around the waist but as she turned around to look at her attacker they let go. “It’s fucking crazy down here! The lieutenant wants us back at the helicopter!” 

“Who are you?” She called out into the darkness, raising her bat. 

“Ugh, it’s me! Ted!” He called. 

The music was making it impossible to hear him, but the rhythm of his voice was familiar in its ups and downs. 

“How’d you get down here!?” She called. “I told you to beat it, Ted!” She didn’t know if she was facing him, there was no point in asking to see his uniform sleeve and check if it was a soldier or an impersonator, here vision was gone. “What do you want!?” 

“I want you to come with me, it’s crazy down here!” She felt a hand take hers and pull her guidingly in the other direction. 

She halted. That wasn’t Ted’s hand. His skin was rougher, his hand was bigger.   
She tried to snatch her wrist back but they held on tight. “Let go!” She ordered, cutting through the air with her bat and bringing it down on where the attacker’s shoulder should be. 

Her hand was freed as her attacker recoiled with a yelp of pain. 

Her headache was getting bad, it took her a second to do the math. “Paul!?” She knew his voice. 

“Melissa, just come with me!” That’s why she recognised his voice. It wasn’t Ted’s, it was Paul. “Just come with me!” He repeated. “I’ll take you somewhere safe!” His voice luring. 

“What are you doing here!? Is Emma here too?” 

“The professor thinks I’m inside, he’s got his hands full. You’re supposed to be Schauffer! Where is she!?” He questioned.

“At home! You broke her leg, you jerk!” She shoved him. 

“No! It’s not like that! We just had to infect her! then once she was with us you’d want to join too! Why can’t you just come with me?” 

“Let go, Paul!” Melissa shook her head. No, she wasn’t going to do that. She began to pat down her pockets for her tranq but these uniforms had about twenty, and it was taking too long. She pulled the one on her hip inside out and it wasn’t showing up, she tried the side pockets and her back pockets, anywhere she swore she could’ve put them but she was empty handed. She surely didn’t leave it in her utility vest did she? It didn’t matter, she didn’t have time, she had to run. 

She tried to keep her head up, her heart racing and her chest throbbing. Somewhere beyond all that smog she saw the faint, towering silhouette of the professor’s fortress looming over the road like a ghost ship. She was heading the right way. She was so focused that she caught a change in the smoke, swirling in different patterns ahead of her. 

She wasn’t going to be tricked again. She swung her bat before she even saw the face and it connected perfectly. A body collapsed to the ground in front of her, something spraying up from underneath it. The bright blue slime. 

Oh god. That was what she was walking on. That was why the ground was so slippery and thick, it was covered in it. She tightened the wrap of her jumper around her mouth, hoping the spores would stay filtered out. 

She must have veered on her path because when she ran again she crashed up aside a fence or some sort of wall. The sound of a smoke alarm going off like a dying siren’s call. The music was thumping loudly where she stood, trying to recover her breath. The speaker must be inside, the ground was vibrating.   
She felt her way along the walls, her legs getting caught on something she couldn’t see, wiring or a crack in the pavement, she widened her stance and her gait, she felt a change in the material, from brick to wood, and she tapped her hand down, her hands brushing the doorknob. 

She turned it, slamming it shut right behind her. The smoke was more breathable, and the floor was sturdy, but the music was unbearable. She could see the speaker, one of many hooked up by the door, and she smashed it as hard as she could with one swing. 

The speaker spluttered like it was choking, but with a second hit the casing cracked off, and the music from the speaker stopped. 

There had to be at least twenty more in all the other houses, but that one second of silence let Melissa know how much her ears were ringing. She pulled her sweater off her mouth for a second to breathe in fresh air. She had to think strategy. She could spend her time breaking open all these speakers and smoke machines and drones but that would take an hour at least, she just had to find that professor. 

Before the smoke started she had seen him right down by the machines. Surely she had to be getting close anyways. 

She took in a deep breath and adjusted her makeshift mask, gripping at her bat as she kicked the door open to run back into the fray, trying to lift her legs higher to keep them out of the muck. 

The strategy she had settled on was just legging it until she got past the smoke machines, hopefully she was moving fast enough to knock over or crush any of the crawling droids, and fast enough to dissuade any of the infected from chasing her. 

Melissa had never had an Alexa before. She was more of a google home person if she had to pick sides, because, y’know, screw Amazon. But she did have the idea of calling out to it to get it to turn off the lights and the heavy smoke and the music, but there was no way for her voice to be heard above the speakers. 

“Professor! Where are you!” She shouted out, her call muffled in her jumper. 

The speakers made a high pitched squeak that almost bursted her eardrums, she clutched her hands to her ears but after a moment the noise stopped. 

There was some feedback, and then a voice came through, crystal clear. It was deep with a rich tenor, so this was his voice. “This is your eleventh hour!” His voice echoed down the street. But she could hear his voice somewhere nearby. 

The smoke machines must have been cut somewhere along the lines because the arial chopper up above was coming down and the smoke was beginning to thin. 

The soldiers were stationed at the end of the road where it all began, and right up ahead was the professor, wearing the smoke like a cape. It breezed smoothly around him like he never had a trouble seeing through it or breathing it in, like they coexisted. 

And it was like his plan was for the helicopter to come down and blow the smoke away. He stood perfectly still, posed with his hands out and welcoming, his chin tilted up. 

“Fuck!” One cadet called out as he realised what was covering the road.   
They all came to an understanding of their scenario, they had been tricked and trapped, former PEIP soldiers who had been infected were still marching in time up and down the road like a patrol squad.   
Some of them were grappling with their counterparts, but there were definitely more infected soldiers now than there were to begin with. 

“It’s a...”

Out of instinct Melissa ducked down as his arms swept upwards above his head almost as if he was inviting the helicopter to watch. 

“Show stoppin’ number.”

Melissa didn’t want to get her hands in the slime so she raised her back just slightly to skittered down the road, sticking to the walls. 

“A real show stopper,” in rhythmic, measured steps he sashayed forwards towards the frozen soldiers, all of who were trying not to touch the slime in fear of the risk of infection. 

With the smokescreen lifted she could see all the soldiers. Some of them, the ones who had run too far out into the field were choking on spores, strangled notes spewing from their mouths as they tried to hold it back. She could see Ted at the rendezvous point, and he saw her. 

She saw his eyes widen and his jaw drop, but he didn’t dare point to her or call her out, dare he risk giving away her hiding spot. 

“A show stoppin’ number, come on,” he gave a seamless roll of his shoulders, kneeling down to offer a hand to a half-turned soldier still choking on the floor. 

The man resisted, trying to reach for his tranq and shooting a dart that bounced right off his armour. 

The professor chuckled in between lines, one hand caressing the cheek of the dying man as if to put him out of his misery.   
“Something to shock em’” he ran his fingers through the goo on the road, gently smoothing it under the man’s lips. “To bring them a-crawling. A big-time box-office draw.” 

He continued his walk like he was on the run way, looking at each suffering soldier with sympathy and understanding but a knowing smile. He was taking them some place better. 

Melissa couldn’t let them lose any more soldiers though. Slowly, as not to splash the slime or squelch it beneath her boots she crept slowly forward. 

“With the press and the glamour, we’ll kill the reviews,” he held out both arms to a corporal, her hand shaking like she couldn’t control her body. “Spotlight on Mr. Ingenue,” it was like he was singing a lullaby as he took her neck and cracked it. 

The girl dropped, only for her eyes to reopen strikingly blue seconds later. 

Melissa picked up her pace, dire to get to the professor before this second soldier got up to follow him.

“So fill up your tumblr,”

Melissa allowed herself to raise her back to break into a run. Stop him before he hurt anyone else.

“Got a show stoppin’ number,” 

She was sprinting, her bat hiked high.

“For you.”

She brought it right down on his head, connecting perfectly with his temple and following him through to the floor where his lab coat, turned grey from the smog turned blue from the slime. 

Breathless over her catch she looked right back up at the onlooking soldiers who could still keep an eye on her.   
She didn’t know what to do other than give them a thumbs up. 

———————————————————

“Yes. Fine. I’ll sit in the stupid wheelchair. Just let me out of the medical bay!” 

“Colonel, you need to keep the knee still, you can’t keep bending it,” Adam advised. 

She pushed her trolley table away, sending papers flying off the top and slicing the air down to the floor. “Doctor, I need to see Melissa.” 

“Well you can’t. Not for the next five hours at least. She’s in quarantine. She wasn’t infected but it’s just a precautionary measure. She was at risk of coming in contact with the spores.” 

Schauffer had seen the whole thing on the arial camera footage. She didn’t need the doctor repeating the thought that made her heart leap from her chest. She had been shouting at the laptop like she was watching sports or some sort of horror movie. Oh that girl gave her a fright sometimes. “Listen. I don’t care about quarantine if she’s not even infected. I need to get to that room, Doctor.”

“I’m not letting you up, I’m sorry. Just, take it easy okay?” He left so she couldn’t argue with him anymore, but two more people took his place. The general and Taylor. 

“Melissa’s in quarantine,” Taylor announced as if it was still a mystery. “They gave her a vaccine just in case though, so she’s totally fine.” 

“There were three fatalities though, unfortunately. But your friend is just fine. How’re you holding up, Colonel?” 

“Cut the formalities. I’m planning a break out. Are you in or are you a snitch?” 

“I’m in. No questions asked,” Taylor held their hands up in the air before letting them rest on their hips.

Mcnamara snorted. “Break out of the medical bay to go visit your friend in quarantine?” 

She nodded. “Yes, you’re always on about the strength of human bonds and moral so if you aren’t in you’re a hypocrite,” she declared, stone faced. 

He pushed his shoulders back. “Well, can’t argue with that can I? What’s the plan?” 

“Grab me my crutches, the wheelchair is too much of a scene,” she clicked her fingers at where her crutches lay, well out of her reach. 

Jokingly, as Mcnamara grabbed one he pointed it towards her. “We’ll need a Do over one day, won’t we? When your knee is better.”

“Hah, the bastard. My knee was the only thing making that a fair contest, now give it here.” It was easier to slide out of bed on the crutches than with the wheelchair, and after Taylor helped her knee out of its stirrup. 

McNamara unlocked the door to survey for if everything was clear as Taylor kept an eye on Schauffer’s walking, lending her their black jumper to keep them out of obvious sight. She would blend in now. 

They snuck out into the hallway, Taylor walking five paces ahead to ensure the doctor was nowhere to be seen. Schauffer was limping up against the wall with Mcnamara on her side to hide the crutches. There wouldn’t be any witness testimonies saying they had seen her sneaking out if no one saw any crutches. 

Taylor let out a panicked squawk as they spotted Adam up ahead and with a teenager-esque giggle scrambled back to grab Schauffer’s good hand and yank her into the closest corridor before Adam could spot her. 

Mcnamara took up the rear, pressing into Schauffer’s back to cover her up when she moved too slowly. 

“Have you guys ever seen the breakfast club?” Taylor joked. 

“Oh wow,” Mcnamara nodded sagely.

“Focus,” she snapped, but she was enjoying the rush. Sneaking out was the closest to field work she was going to get. It helped her take her mind off there being four days left of the mission. 

They took the long way to the quarantine room, the one that didn’t go past the labs or the doctor’s office. It raised hell for Schauffer’s leg but she just wanted to see Melissa and know she was okay and tell her off for doing something so stupid. 

Taylor peered into the glass window to the quarantine prep window before opening it up and ushering their superiors in with an over dramatic waving gesture like they were a presidential bodyguard in evacuation. 

Mcnamara stood by the door and gave Schauffer a salute. “I’ll guard it, Colonel. You go in.” 

She returned the salute. “Thank you, General, Officer.” 

“Mission successful!” Taylor whooped, high-fiving the General. 

Schauffer snickered, a little exhausted but just relieved to be almost back with her friend. 

She shouldered the door open, hobbling through. 

She saw Melissa right away. She was sitting up in bed looking thoughtful but rather pleased with herself. “Ah!” She turned around when Schauffer got to her bed. “Colonel! I didn’t hear you coming!” 

“Why are you shouting?” She asked. 

“Oh! I’m kinda deaf now!” She rapped the side of her face. “Yeah, hope that goes away!” 

With that out of the way Schauffer was now ready to lecture her. “I saw it all on the arial cams, Melissa! What were you thinking!?” She was supposed to be on a quiet outskirt patrol, not a major battle.

“Oh, hey!” She pointed at the bed next to her. “You saw me score the professor then right?” She was much more cheerful than she had been in days. 

“Wh-huh? Shouldn’t he be in the observational cells?”

Melissa looked like she needed a moment for auditory processing, so she stared at Schauffer expectantly before gasping. “Oh totally probably! But I told them to just give him the vaccine because I wanted to talk to him about Emma!”

Schauffer winced at Melissa’s volume. “Well I didn’t know you had permission to order that.”

“Neither did they! That’s why they did it,” she clapped one hand with her fist. “Now I’m just waiting for him to get up! Isn’t that great, Schauffer? He’s gonna have loads of news about Emma!” 

“Yes, that’s great, Melissa. I’m very proud of you. But you know you were nearly infected, Melissa. Are you aware of that?” 

“I’m gonna be frank with you, Schauffer,” she leant in, looking as serious as she could despite her positive mood. “I have a killer migraine, and the only thing standing between me and infection was a jumper I tied around my face. I nearly got abducted twice and I am only alive because of sheer dumb luck. So I’m really trying to focus on the positives here. Like, for example! I brought you the professor!” She gestured to him with both arms, holding them up like she was showcasing some sort of wonder and not an elderly man who had passed out. 

“Well that’s great, Melissa. Brilliant work. I’m very glad you’re safe. That’s all I wanted to say.” There were some unspoken words. A fear she nearly lost her closest friends in the midsts of an argument. 

Melissa wasn’t even scolding her for getting out of bed for once though. “So, we’re all good again?” 

“I was never mad at you, Melissa,” she reiterated. “Did you prove yourself to yourself in the end there? All satisfied?” 

Melissa nodded. “I’m glad we’re friends again! I won’t let you get hurt again!” 

Schauffer didn’t really know they had stopped being friends, unless that was Melissa’s perception. She really was back to her normal, clueless, energetic self. With a little sleep, she’d be back in perfect shape. “Well, why don’t you get a little shut eye and then when you wake up the professor will be up too?” She suggested, patting Melissa’s pillow as if to entice her. 

“Hah, great idea! Wow, just like Christmas Day!” She cooed, kicking up her sheets to lay down. 

“Yeah, that’s good, Melissa. I’ll catch up with you when you’re awake, alright?” 

She nodded excitedly, shutting her eyes already, a joyous smile plastered to her face. 

Schauffer hovered for a moment, watching her slip into the sleep she had been missing out on, the smile not even leaving her face. 

Her partner in crime was back. Everything was normal again. Right now, the four day limit didn’t even matter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hidgens said ‘it’s okay guys I’m invincible’ then taped some water guns to a Roomba what a legend


	20. Paul and Emma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Schauffer only has 3 days left, so its time to go for the targets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> stole some rhymes from Dixie boy by April smith and some lines from Happy Life by Roland Faunte ((I HAVE used this song in another fic but it gives me infected Paul vibes so I will continue to do so the song slaps

“Uh, excuse me, Professor Hidgens?” Melissa slowly slid open the door to his new room at the rehab center, holding her breath. 

The old man was sitting at the desk in the corner of the room, his tired eyes resting on a booklet one of the scientists had provided for him. He looked up at the sound, pushing his chair back with a smile. “Ah! Well I’ve heard you’re the smart young lady who snapped me out of it, can I help you with anything?” 

“Um hi,” she gave a shy wave as she shut the door behind her. “You’re up early, its not even 7am,” she pointed out awkwardly, trying to segue into conversation. 

He chuckled, the peachy morning sunbeams splaying out across the floor at his feet. “I just couldn’t get to sleep. What about you?” 

“The Colonel has something big planned for today so I decided to get this done before things got hectic, uh, word has it you know Emma Perkins?” 

His gentle smile vanished, replaced by a look of shock. “Emma? Have you heard from her? Is she okay?” 

It gave Melissa butterflies in her stomach. “She’s still on the island, sorry professor. But it’s good you know her! Do you know her well?” She scampered over to his desk, taking a seat at the foot of his made bed.

“Oh of course I do! I know her better than anyone! Why?” 

Melissa’s skin tingled and she kept her breathing rhythmic and calm. Now she was really going to hear about Emma. “Could you please tell me about her?” She was supposed to ask the same questions as all her other interviews, about weaknesses or strengths but she was off the clock right now. She pulled out her notebook and her pen.

Hidgens nodded, turning his chair to better face her. He looked to find some peace in being able to talk to her. “Yes, uh, I met Emma early last year. She had spent the last ten years overseas in Guatemala on her own and she returned for her sister’s funeral. She enrolled in my biology course. Emma had a dangerous relationship with her parents, so I took her under my wing. She brought me groceries, made sure I was all looked after. We took care of each other like that,” he nodded, not really sure what specifics she wanted him to go into. “She’s a strong, little woman. I’m very proud of her progress. It may sound silly but even now I’m blown away by how well she and Paul are leading the Hive. She must be worried I’m gone, we’re very close.” 

Melissa was nodding, not even writing anything down. Just entranced. So this was the woman Paul had fallen in love with, a good, maybe even a little biased representation but fair nonetheless. Maybe she was just caught up in the legend, but she could see why Paul loved her enough to walk that extra block and drink that awful coffee every day. “We’ve sort of been asking around but no one really knows her.” 

“No, she’s only been back in Hatchetfield for a year and she had a lot more on her mind than making friends.” 

“So, hypothetically, after all of his is over she might sorta be open to making friends?” 

He snickered, rubbing his forehead as if to hide any signs of stress. “Well, I’d like her to. But she’s a bit- no, yes. I think she would like to make a new friend,” he corrected himself. 

“Wow,” Melissa breathed. She didn’t know why she was so taken away by the fact. Her mind was buzzing too much to draw together a statement that was official enough. “Thank you for your uh, help, Professor! I’m supposed to ask, if maybe you think she’d have any sort of weaknesses we can- I don’t want to say exploit, but you know. We’d use it properly, to bring her home safely and cure her,” she wrung her hands. “But you know. She sounds pretty cool, I bet she must be really strong.” 

“Oh, uh,” he closed up the booklet on his table. “Not quite, young lady. Both Emma and Paul have some issues right now. Emma’s hurt her leg quite badly. The infection can pull her through the pain quite easily but the bone wouldn’t hold her up if it were hit. She’s scared of needles, she can’t run very quickly either. Paul is uh,” he paused, his hand resting on his temple. “He’s the king of the Hive. He’s strong and powerful and a lot more confident than when I first met him,” he gave a sympathetic laugh. “But during our time in the Hive he was very attached to Emma. He wouldn’t leave her side. And if you don’t mind me asking, how do you know Paul?”

“Oh! He’s been a close friend of mine since high school. We met in my sophomore year and we were room mates for a bit. A job opened up at CCRP a year or so after he joined so I came with him!” 

He nodded. “You must be close. He hasn’t been letting the Hive lay a hand on you.”

Her cheeks flushed. “Oh, wow,” she laughed. “That’s lucky. I’m a little relieved. Uh thank you for your help, Professor,” she stood up.

He cleared his throat, looking thoughtful for a second. “I have a hypothesis of sorts, but I worry it might be used to seriously harm him. Can I tell you? Could you keep an eye on that?” 

She nodded, sneaking back in close to listen. Her ears were still sort of ringing. 

“I’ve been looking through reports, I know you’ve already heard Paul wasn’t formally infected. The meteor’s spores took root inside of him. That’s one reason he’s so powerful, it wasn’t any of us, it was the meteor itself who infected him. However,” he bit down on his lip like he didn’t know how he was going to phrase this. “The spores are different. He’s got a looser connection to the rest of the Hive and with every member that leaves he’s growing less and less Infected. If he isn’t around these spores he risks being uninfected.” He picked up the booklet, patting it with a hand to draw attention to it. “A lot of people saying he’s clingy to Emma, or that they shouldn’t be separated. In fact, I believe in your first interview you said something right along those lines.” He set the book down again. “I believe he’s been harvesting those spores in a way. But the Hive has lost so many people that he’s starting to feel the pressure.” The professor turned his head to his chest to keep his disapproving mumble of ‘probably why he’s always down Emma’s throat’ to himself. He was old, and his hearing was probably faltering a bit and it came out louder than he probably intended.

Melissa felt internally very triumphant that she had been on the right track from the beginning. She nodded him on, paying closer attention.

“When you took Bill from him he was quite furious. He hasn’t dared let go of Emma just in case the colonel takes her too. And I know he left my home yesterday to find you. He’s scared of all the close friends he’s lost. The Hive doesn’t usually target people, and that ambush they launched on the colonel was out of character. He spent a long time convincing General Mcnamara and Bill to play along considering he’s the king.” 

Melissa nodded, pausing to think about what she was meant to do with this information. While unsure of whether or not to use or it keep it a secret she did know that she wanted Paul to stay safe.   
“Oh, shoot! Sorry Professor, I’m late!” It was 7:30. She already missed briefing.   
“Schauffer has something in store for today, I’ve got to go meet her!”  
———————————————————

“Good morning, Melissa,” Schauffer spared her a side glance as she approached. “What were you up so early for today?” 

“I went to go interview the professor,” she explained, glancing at all the helicopters in the loading dock. “What’s going on?” 

“Did you find anything useful? We’re really going to need it today,” Schauffer caught the eyes of a soldier and tilted her head towards the helicopter to keep him walking. 

Melissa nodded, clutching onto Schauffer’s utility vest just out of nervous habit. There were a lot of soldiers in the docking bay. “Emma’s leg looks better but it would give way if it was hurt,” she began. “And Paul, well...” she trailed off. It seemed like she wasn’t quite saying something. “What’s going on?” 

“Ah, you missed briefing, that’s right. We’re going in for Paul and Emma.” 

Melissa’s reaction wasn’t even vocal. It was like she had tripped despite standing still. She yanked at her grip on Schauffer’s vest, swinging in to Schauffer as her feet scuffed on the ground. “Sorry!?” She exclaimed. 

“Yes. I’ve only got three days left. Plus, I send out an overtime squad last night. The population’s right down to fifty nine,” she clicked her tongue, a smile tugging at her lips.

“Well I sure hope you aren’t planning on getting in that helicopter!” Melissa gasped. 

She shook her head. “No, no. And trust me, it took a lot of force to convince me. But I’m going to page in on the mics, keep an eye through the arial helicopter and run the thing.” She was trying not to show Melissa she was seething about it. This was supposed to be her battle, a way to show herself to the Brigadier and the General. But no. Her knee. She was going to cut the whole damn thing off after this for the trouble it caused her. She had emailed the Brigadier in hopes of an extension. She so badly wanted to face them herself, but at least Doctor Adam had offered her the permission and the honour of being in charge of any Matthews and Perkins action back at base. Interrogation, rehabilitation, vaccines. Not nearly as interesting, but she supposed she would get some field work after her leg and her hand healed. 

“Oh, are you upset?” Melissa didn’t say it too loudly. 

Schauffer sighed. “Let’s not linger on it.”

Her smaller friend winced. “I’d swap places with you if I could.” 

“Ah,” she appreciated the gesture. “You know, as the colonel I’m not really the one who should be out doing all these tasks. I’m supposed to be the commander. It’s the soldiers who run this sort of thing.” She swallowed, glad Melissa was being patient with her. “I’m just supposed to say things are people are supposed to listen,” she snorted. 

“But people don’t listen, huh?” Melissa looked down at the ground, her hands returning to her sides and interlocking. 

“Yeah. If you can’t beat em, join them,” she shrugged. “God,” she couldn’t help letting some of her internal dysfunction slip out. If anyone died on this mission she’d never forgive herself. “A fair few helicopters are being sent out to go round up the last few members of the Hive during the morning. If it all goes according to plan it’ll only be Paul and Emma by the afternoon, but...” 

Melissa mumbled in agreement. This was scary for her. 

“We’re going to do our best to keep the two of them unharmed, but we’ve seen what they can do and that might be easier said than done.” 

“Yeah, I get that.” 

The two of them grew quiet.   
The atmosphere in the docking bay was tense, there was a mutual understanding that any wrong move on anyone’s behalf could wind up fatal. They stood still to the side, watching each soldier load up into the helicopters, some carrying medical supplies or heavy weaponry. Melissa was clearly trying not to look. 

“You should go get yourself some breakfast. I’m going to be in the radio room today, I’ll be busy so-“

“Hey, I’m getting on that helicopter too,” Melissa interrupted to declare. “It’s Paul.” 

Schauffer laughed, giving her an incredulous look. It was probably the most emotion that had broken through Schauffer’s stoicalness in a while. “No you aren’t. No volunteers are going. Leave it to the trained soldiers, Melissa. A lot of good soldiers are going to risk their lives today.” 

She rested a hand on Schauffer’s shoulder, careful not to shake her and her crutches. “Yes, but it’s Paul!”

“I know he’s important to you Melissa, but if you die out there I am actually going to retire and never come out in public ever again.” She couldn’t even picture the grief she would be in. 

“You’re just saying that, colonel,” Melissa elbowed her. “I’m serious, and I spoke with the professor today. He said Paul isn’t out for me.” 

“I don’t care what he said, you aren’t going out there. Did you listen to that story I told you the other day, Melissa? You go out there and get yourself killed and I’ll only be a couple days down the line. You are to stay right here where I know you’re safe.” 

Melissa huffed. “You sound like my dad. Don’t be overbearing. I’m capable, I’ll stick to the back. I just want to make sure no one is going to shoot Paul. He won’t hurt me, I know.”

“How do you know that, Melissa?” 

“Because I keep running into him in the field, Schauffer. And he just lets me go.” 

Schauffer squinted. Well that was pretty unarguable proof she supposed. “Well once we take out Emma he might not be abiding by that anymore,” she said instead. “We’re going for her first. She’s a low defence, high attacker. Paul is the other way around.” 

“What does that mean?” Melissa inquired.

“It means Emma will stab you in the back but then hand you the knife and turn around,” she readjusted her grip on her crutches. She wasn’t really supposed to be standing this long. “It doesn’t matter, Melissa. You aren’t going.” 

“I think I could really help, Schauffer,” she insisted. 

Schauffer shook her head. She could lose her whole force and wouldn’t care as much as she would if she lost Melissa. It hurt her heart to think about it. “No. If anything happens to you as a civilian I’ll lose my job, Melissa.” 

“No, the Brigadier and the General know I’m not a civilian right now. I work with PEIP. You wouldn’t lose your job!” Melissa countered. “I think I could save people, Schauffer. And I dealt with the Professor Hidgens situation almost entirely singlehandedly!” 

“And it was risky and terrifying and you tested my heart, Melissa,” Schauffer snapped, only just breaking through her calm facade. “God! You scared the lights out of me, girl.” 

Melissa clicked her tongue as she looked down to the ground. 

Schauffer knew she wanted to be part of it, she had been keeping an eye out for Paul the whole time, but so had he. There would be nothing to stop Paul snapping and harming Melissa once they secured Emma. This was going to be a time sensitive operation.   
“It’ll be an ambush, strike Emma at the leg, tranq her when she’s open. Get Paul while his guard is down. We have to be quick, there’s still about fifty or so other Infected on the island they can call. We don’t want a full blown war.” Maybe hearing the plan would cheer her up a bit. “It’ll be nice and fast. Paul won’t even know.” 

“Do you trust me, Colonel Schauffer?” 

Schaffer glanced down, unamused. “I trust you, sure. But I trust you with things like making schedules, and arriving on time, and keeping this organised. I do not trust you to take down war criminals!” She straightened out her hunched shoulder. 

“Oh it’s not like I’ll do it single handedly! I’ll a whole platoon with me! And you know this is important to me, right?” She took a step to the side to catch Schauffer’s attention now that she was purposely looking away. “I know how to look after myself.” 

“Melissa, with full respect. I’ve dedicated my entire life to this job, aside from the General I am the most qualified person to be out there, and those two nearly killed me.” 

“Hey, look me in the eye for a second, Schauffer,” she stepped in front of her so Schauffer couldn’t look away. 

She grimaced. Melissa wasn’t stubborn, she was just persistent. But she understood where the fear was coming from, all over the loading bay there were soldiers who were checking that their guns were loaded. Melissa knew what that meant. 

“Do you know how much this matters for me, and how much I care about Paul, so don’t you kinda thing telling me not to is pointless?” 

“Melissa, don’t,” Schauffer growled, trying not to look into Melissa’s big, doe eyes. 

“It’s sort of inevitable I end up in that helicopter, you know?” She ended pleadingly as she already began to back up towards the line. 

“Uh- Melissa. Do you see what those two did to me?” She gaped. “Do you see-!?” She raised her voice like she was about to announce it to the whole loading bay of soldiers before grumbling and going silent as Melissa hurried off. “Ah, always with the not listening to me. What is it with me and being ignored?”   
———————————————————

Schauffer was under no circumstances allowed to play favourites when it came to soldier’s safety, but the second Melissa’s helicopter landed she diverted the path of arial helicopter A over to keep an eye on her. 

It was easy to spot her, she had a smaller and thinner frame than most of the PEIP soldiers, and she wore her bat strapped across her back so she could grab it quickly. 

The soldiers on her squad were watching her too, clustering around her like a hen protecting an egg. 

She took a second while things were still quiet to switch feeds. Helicopter B showed the recovery squad down below, already on the look for any other infected citizens to recover. The third arial feed was following along two agents in particular.

They were in charge of baiting out Paul and Emma, they were playing music from speakers attached to their belt, making as much of a show as they could. 

She selected feed A again, finding some comfort in being able to watch Melissa.

Things were running smoothly.   
———————————————————

“Take a look at this,” Emma titled her head right back up to look at the sky. “Helicopters, three.” 

Paul took Emma’s hand tighter. “There are a lot more.” What was left of the Hive was reporting all sorts of chaos to him. 

Flashes of images of soldiers with loaded guns marching down the streets, the sound of blades whirring and commanding shouts and the crackle of voices over the radios. Each shot sliced through his head like a stabbing blade. For the first time he wished the Hive could just be quiet for a moment, he knew something was wrong, he and Emma was working on it, but he didn’t feel well. 

“They’ve come for a game, huh, Paul?” Emma gave an excited growl. “Oh well I’d love to play with them!” She pulled him along with him. 

Paul frowned. “I don’t think you should go and see them,” he shook his head. “That’s a lot of soldiers. There are only two of us.”

“That’s what makes it an even fight. What’s gotten into you today, my lovely boy?” She looked like maybe she had more to hum when the sound of a song filled the air. 

That wasn’t their song, but Emma seemed to lose interest in their conversation immediately, her head swivelling side to side to hunt down the sound. “Wow!”   
She was drawn to it, her pupils were big and her eyes were searching. “This way!” 

She took off, gripping his hand in hers to bring him along with her. 

“Emma! That isn’t our song!” Paul tried to warn her as she navigated swiftly through the familiar streets, licking her lips. 

“Well if this is a trick then they’re the ones in for a surprise!” She told him, giggling as she looked over her shoulders.

The blue in her eyes was so beautiful, Paul couldn’t turn her down. He would just keep an eye on his Queen. So he picked up his pace to run alongside her, their fingers were entwined tightly. The curve of her hand was familiar, in this whole island he had to roam, Emma was where his heart lay, where he was home. He wasn’t going to lose her today, no matter how badly the soldiers wanted to take her.   
He’d take them all out if it meant staying by her side, and he knew he could.

“Look!” Emma pointed, “there!” She peered out from the corner, watching on curiously as two men in those black uniforms made their way down the streets.

Not wanting to make a noise, Paul shared his cautiousness with Emma through their link. They weren’t trying to hide at all, in fact, they were blasting music from speakers on their vests. 

Emma quickly and easily counter his vibes, lending him some courage. She gave him a pleading look. ‘Please?’ 

Paul winced, but he knew his love was capable of taking care of herself, and so he let her go. 

She gave a happy chirp as she leant up to kiss him. They got a bit carried away, honestly, but it wasn’t like they could lose track of those two. When Emma finally decided to end that kiss, she leant back down, licking up the spit on her lips. 

Paul walked along behind her as she stalked them, he was going to keep her safe. 

“Hello! Looking for us?” She called out above the music, falling into the song blasting from the speakers as she attacked, just to show how effortless it was for her to do so. 

She grabbed the first one by the wrist, yanking it towards her to pull him off his feet and swing him right back into his partner, bowling them both over.   
Before either of them could even touch a mic or a tranq she pounced down, handling the first soldier by the throat and pressing her thumb and her fingertips into his neck. 

Generously, she shared the experience with him, and he could feel the squishing of the flesh under her fingers and the popping of a blood vessel as her fingers dug right through the skin, crushing the structure. It was like popping an aphid. 

Paul harmonised with his death rattle, walking up to Emma as she finished off the second man just as quickly, and by the time he arrived both of them were cold. 

Emma shook the drizzle of blood off her fingers, digging it out from underneath her nails. 

He could sense this attack was a bit more than just a game to Emma for once. She didn’t even Infect the soldiers this time, only giving them a moment of silence before looting the radio off soldier two’S shoulder and looking up at the chopper that circled like vultures overhead, trying to catch any sight of the two of them.  
She cleared her throat, holding down the talk button as she looked right up into the camera attached to the landing skids. “Hello!” She waved. “Are you lost? Because I certainly don’t think you know what you’re up to. I don’t like what I see, and I know you don’t want to get into this with me.” 

Before anyone could respond through the radio she dropped it and crushed it under her heel. 

“Come on, Paul. Let’s go find another one of these idiots,” she cracked her knuckles as they linked arms. 

“You’re beautiful,” Paul breathed. “all the time, but when you do that...” he trailed off. 

Emma squeezed is arm. “You like that, huh?” 

“You leave me speechless.” He took her hand to spin her so he could lead her into a dip and kiss her. “You are so perfect,” he purred, “so strong, so brave.” 

“Oh you two, hun, but come on. We better find them before they find us.”  
———————————————————

“Ah shit, shit,” Schauffer adjusted her microphone to start alerting soldiers. “Pilot, track the targets,” she ordered, switching to feed A to check on the main task force and she skimmed through the channels to find the lieutenant colonel of the mission. “Hey, we’ve lost both scouter agents, targets moving towards the twelve, gather up the squad and get moving.” The second she pulled back from the mic, all the channels erupted with sound. 

She could see each number of each soldier shouting into the radio at each other, lighting up her screen. The major was doing a head check, the corporal was calling over the cadets and the sergeants were weaving through the group to check each radio was working. All of their voices were tangled together.

“Get in the sniper, targets know it’s an ambush, you won’t be able to catch Perkins off guard. You’re going to need to aim from up high,” she informed them, switching feeds, the tracker helicopter was still following them, they were still running down the street, where were they headed? They were going somewhere downtown, and they were moving fast. 

The lieutenant colonel was jogging the task force down the street in the direction of the roof top. A parade of black suits matching off to war. 

Schauffer could practically feel the tension through the cameras, and she found herself leaning right up close to the screen so she wouldn’t miss a thing. 

“Get the sniper shot to a higher vantage point,” she called through the open channel before she switched radios to talk to the helicopter. “Get up, get up, get some more distance, I don’t want to risk them getting anywhere near the helicopter, they might have weapons. The task force is on their way now, get to a safe distance,” she held her headset to her ear until she got a very muffled ‘affirmative’ and she had to switch back to the main feed. 

Despite how fast her heart was beating her fingers were still moving smoothly across the keys, switching from feeds A to B to C. The recovery team was hunting down a collection of citizens, it was like the last remnants of the island were banding together with a sense of despair looming over everyone in Hatchetfield. “You all better handle this fast. We can’t have the Hive calling for back up. Keep an eye on the citizens and watch your backs.” 

Schauffer closed down the channels for a second to focus on the cameras. Feed C had followed them right down to the Hatchetfield Starlight Theatre, and were hurrying up to the roof.

Feed A was clear, they were approaching the roof top now. Feed C was still circling the targets, who seemed innocently curious at the platoon marching towards them. They were singing or talking, but Schauffer couldn’t hear without the audio on.  
Back to feed A, just to keep an eye on Melissa. She was still alive, obviously, she didn’t know what she was expecting.  
Through all her time in the field her march had finally blended into the rest of the soldiers, she was capable, but Schauffer would just prefer her to be safe. 

The feeds between camera’s A and C melded into one as the platoon circled the bottom of the building. She flicked he audio back on. 

“Paul Matthews and Emma Perkins!” Came the call from the Major, “show yourselves! We have the right to fire if you show signs of violence!” He shouted. 

“No, no, dumbass,” Schauffer made sure her mic was off at least. They didn’t have the given right to fire, they were allowed it as a last resort. “You can approach, start filing up,” she gave the order when neither of the targets seemed to respond to the call. “You’ve got to be careful, the roof is collapsing in on itself, exterior damage, the meteor is still releasing spores.” 

They all fell into the proper line, clambering up the ladder in teams so no one got to the roof alone. The major called out another warning. No response. 

Emma chatted something to Paul, an awful shit-eating grin on her face that made Schauffer want to slap her. She probably would’ve if she was there.   
But unfortunately she was locked up in an empty communications den with a broken knee and a broken hand. 

“Where’s the sniper shot?” She asked the Major, switching cams to try and find him. 

There wasn’t a response, it was understandable, he was climbing up the stairs. 

“Be careful, soldiers - there’s spores in the air. Don’t get too close to the middle.” She could see them through the camera in the angle of the light, but she didn’t know if the soldiers could see them through their visors.

Emma was standing too close to Paul for a clear shot, no matter what angle the sniper shot would be at.

The two of them were backing up to the centre of the roof near the hole as the first few reached the top. 

The major approached first trying to give a fair go to the both of them. “We need you two to step apart! This is a warning!” 

Paul shook his head, ‘Emma, no,’ he said, Schauffer was just making out the words from reading his lips. He tried to grab her hand to keep her by his side.

“Or what?” Emma sneered.

“Hey, don’t circle the whole roof. If they want to run we’re going to let them,” Schauffer reminded the platoon as they began to block the exits. “They can tear through people in seconds, we aren’t aiming for fatalities!” She snapped when the group didn’t wing out far enough. 

The Major held out a gun. “You two have to step aside,” he repeated, more soldiers filing up onto the roof besides him. “Now!” 

Emma rolled her eyes. “And who’re you to tell us what to do? You can all play soldier fighting for your land but just the same I’ll defend my man!” She spat, her voice strong and clear through the speakers. 

The Major tried again but Schauffer began to look for Melissa. She was trying to push past to get up the ladder to the roof top. Camera B was showing the stirring of the citizens, preparing to come to the aid of their King. Back to feed A. 

“Major, you won’t get anything from persuading him,” she paged him. “Get some action, where’s the sniper?”

“Four o clock,” the major responded, his voice murmured so the targets wouldn’t hear. 

“Okay. Get Perkins at four then! Fire a warning shot just don’t-“ she could barely finish her sentence before the Major shot at the space right above Paul’s head. “No!”

Emma’s eyes grew dark and she looked up into the air like she was about to rip the bullet right out of the sky. She landed her untamed and maddened eyes right on the Major, and Schauffer slammed her finger to the radio key to tell him retreat at an instant but it was no use.

Before she could even blink Emma had her hands around his neck, his gun already twisted from his hand and sliding across the floor. Before she could crush his neck the lieutenant corporal grabbed him around the waist to pull him to the side and shove Emma back as the rest of the crowd of soldiers scattered around the roof, afraid of being next. 

“I’ll ask you once and I won’t play nice, you keep your hands off my boy!” 

“Emma!” Paul called to her, trying to lure her back to him but she was shaking with rage. 

“Get the sniper!” She tried to order the lieutenant colonel but he was busy helping the Major. “Ugh- shit, where’s the sniper!?” To make matters worse, now that the crowd had thinned on the roof Melissa was making her way up much faster. She scrolled through the page of mic channels to find Melissa, but her number was slipping her mind right now, and she didn’t have time to read through all the numbers when she had to keep an eye on Emma. 

She watched Emma’s head whipping from side to side like a cornered animal as the soldiers began to draw their guns, the Major was still gasping for air on the floor, no one was removing him. He was going to be a hazard, the flow of soldiers to the roof was slowing down and the lieutenant was still nursing his now unconscious body. 

“Fuck, just-“ she cut to the main channel, “Private! Take the Major down!”

A cadet on the roof seemed happy to take that opportunity after looking Emma in the eye just once. 

“I will seek and I will destroy, for the apple of my eye, my pride and joy! So keep your damn hands off my boy!” Emma snarled, daring a new soldier to try and test her.

“Emma!” Paul began to hop up near her and a wave of warning shouts ripples around the soldiers, still pouring up onto the roof, naturally beginning to form a circle again, closing in to make more room. 

Emma was backing up, losing her distance from Paul. 

“Sniper!” Schauffer called through the main channel, usually the order would have to pass through the Major or lieutenant colonel on field but neither of them were responding. This would have to do. “Clear!” 

The soldiers braced but Emma didn’t, and from the four o clock angle a blank was fired from the nearby roof top, striking Emma’s bad leg. She collapsed, just as Schauffer hoped she would.   
She actually looked surprised, not by the blank, but by the possibility that her leg could give out on her again. 

Paul let out a belting note of rage himself, tinted with fear. 

But the Major was supposed to be in charge on the field and now there was no one taking the opportunity to tranq her before Paul could react, for now he was seemingly frozen, taking in deep, big breaths of the spores dancing through the air. 

She slammed a finger to a random com channel, “Soldier! Tranq her!” She ordered, hoping the directness would be enough to scare them into following the order. Fortunately, she watched a soldier from the right pull out his tranq, firing a clean shot at Emma. 

Schauffer couldn’t even believe it when the hit was confirmed. Her head dropped down to the roof, her blue eyes glazing over like she was fighting to keep them open, her hands pressing to the roof top like she wanted to push herself back up. It wasn’t working just yet. Her good leg was edging to the side to position herself into a seated position, her body twitching. She just wasn’t giving in. 

It was scary to watch. Tranquillisers had never had a problem before, but she was just as much of a fighter as people told her she was. Her chest was heaving now, using what was left of her energy to glance up at Paul for help, and then her eyes shut as her bones relaxed and she sunk to the ground. 

Some of the more naive soldiers let out a roar of enthusiasm, but that angered Paul. 

She had been so caught up in the tranq ordeal that she had lost track of Melissa’s progress, and now the girl had pushed her way up the line and was clambering onto the roof. “Paul!” She tried to call to him, but his cry cut her short. 

The soldiers who were trying to collect Emma’s body from the floor froze as Paul began to charge. 

Schauffer was tapping her foot against the floor hard, it was more like a drumming, she was almost standing but she couldn’t feel the pain in her knee. “Drop her! Drop her!” She yelled, but Paul was sprinting forward, shoveling through soldiers and throwing them aside like they were nothing. “Shit!” She returned her search for Melissa’s radio number, she needed her off the roof. “God, what’s going on!?” She switched to feed B, opening the channel, “Get to the red zone immediately! The Starlight theatre, downtown! We need as much back up as we can get!” She was about to switch back when she noticed the recovery team was already focused on tranquing down the citizens, holding back a gang of ten or twenty, the Hive was fighting back. Where were the other forty citizens left on the island?

Back to feed A, she could’ve sworn it was a trick of the eye, there was far too much going on to focus. She shouldn’t have switched feeds at all, Paul was throwing them aside, there were soldiers falling from the roof tops and spreading out around the roof to stay out of his way, abandoning the safety rules. 

No one knew what to do with Emma, somewhere along the line she must have been dropped back down but the braver soldiers were standing as still as they could to ward Paul off, guns and tranqs raised. Where was Melissa? Furthermore, a second problem, what looked to be the rest of the Hatchetfield Hive were trying to climb up the ladder to collect their Queen and fight with their King. PEIP were being split up, the original faction was divided into three groups, one was sheltering around Emma: their one success of the day, but they weren’t a match for Paul, right now it was just a game of lasting out until something-anything happened. There was a smaller group trying to keep the Hive from crawling up the sides, and it was like the meteor was encouraging them, bursts of spores were flying into the air with every drum from the Hive.

God, where was Melissa? She begged for her not to have been one of the ones to have fallen off the roof. Her eyes searched the screen desperately, infuriated by the shaking of the camera on the moving helicopter, she tore her headphones off, unable to focus with the yelling and shouting and screaming. No, no, where was she? It was so hard to make out anyone with the clambering and the scuffling and pushing and shoving on the roof, they didn’t have forever, where was she? Paul was striking and tearing and at the PEIP soldiers, intent on killing them for hurting his love. Please no, where was Melissa? 

The force self-assigned to keeping the Hive off the roof gave up to try and cover for Emma, but it was just a suicide mission. The more soldiers that got into his way the more he seethed and the more violent his actions became. 

The remaining soldiers who made up the the third group were just scattered and spread out, she didn’t think they had a purpose unless they were possibly a distraction or were lining up to get a shot, they really just looked like they were trying to flee. 

Schauffer’s eyes were drawn straight away as she caught sight of the sun reflecting off Melissa’s bat, and there she was, trying to sneak in amongst the group protecting Emma, her eyes set cautiously on Paul. But she did not look scared, she wasn’t the meagre and shy assistant she used to be, and it was times like this that Schauffer was reminded that Melissa lasted two weeks before the Infected caught up to her. She could see her train of thought clear on her face, trying to get in close to Paul and catch his attention without getting in his range.

Maybe she was right, maybe Paul really wouldn’t hurt her and she could save lives. But Schauffer didn’t care about the outcome of the risk, she just wanted Melissa out of there. She knew what she had to do. “Hey!” She called through the channels, hoping to secure someone’s attention in all the discord and chaos. “Hey, someone get Melissa off the roof!” She couldn’t have her sticking around for this. Maybe the reason she had left this order for so long was because she didn’t know whether or not Melissa would be able to forgive her for her actions. “Someone get Melissa off the roof, right now!” She tried again, she knew Melissa would’ve been able to hear through the channels too, but she didn’t have time to go through any master paths channels to cut her out of a message or loop someone else in. “God! Hey!” She shouted. Listen to her, just listen to her. For one second she just needed her squad to listen to her judgement and her commands, they barely ever did. Could no one see Melissa? Was this some sort of bystander effect? What was happening? Why did people drop everything to listen to Mcnamara and never to her? What was so different? She held her breath before barking another order, why wasn’t Melissa getting off the roof? She sunk back into her chair, finally feeling the throb of the pain in her joints and her knee. Maybe she needed a second, not that she had one. Maybe she should be calm, Mcnamara was always calm. No one could follow orders from someone screaming down the mic in their ears. But how could she be calm when she just watched Matthews tear a hand through someone’s stomach like an Aztec executioner? It didn’t matter, she had to.   
“Soldier! Get Melissa, to your left, get her off the roof.” Was it clear enough? She waited with baited breath for a second before she saw a soldier pull clear of the knot of limbs to find Melissa.

But Melissa shook her head.

“Wait, what?” She had leant so close into the screen that her forehead touched the brim and she had to take a seat back. She switched audio back in, slapped by the sound of roars and belts and shattering screeches. War cry rung in the air in the form of song and shout. She could barely hear Melissa’s ‘I know what I’m doing.’ 

She bit down on her lip, feeling the tooth pierce the skin, letting the blood dribble down her chin. No, she had to get Melissa off the roof. Paul was too dangerous, it didn’t matter what Melissa said. She had to give the order: put him down. This was the King, he was demolishing their eighty man force in seconds, and there were another forty of his kind inching their way to the top, only lending him power. Her soldiers were dying, they weren’t expendable, Paul had to go. They had Emma and maybe that was the best they could do. But at the same time the desperation on Melissa’s face was so real, the knitting of her eye Browns and the paleness of her face, the curve of her lips and the sickly sweat on her forehead, all because she could tell what Schauffer was about to do and she was fighting against the clock to save her friend.   
Maybe she owed her friend that respect after all they had been through and all the hard work she had seen Melissa shoulder through. Schauffer was always saying the same thing. Maybe she should just see- she couldn’t finish that monologue before Melissa had darted by to Paul’s side, just tapping his shoulder with her bat. 

She watched Paul spin around, relieving that defence force for just a second as Paul realised who it was. Schauffer lost feeling in her body for a second as she waited for Paul’s response. Soldiers were cocking their guns as his back was turned, Schauffer’s lips were curved around the words in preparation to give the order if Paul tried anything.

But the beast’s face broke, the anger melting off him and revealing the sorrow. 

“It’s Emma, isn’t it?” Melissa’s eyes were locked into Paul’s, gingerly making the move to try and grab his bloody hand. 

Paul nodded frantically, his eyes were watery, and the tears that came out were thick and bright blue. “She mattered when nothing mattered! If I need something let me have her!”   
He didn’t want to harm the soldiers, he was trying to get to Emma. 

“Casevac, move,” Schauffer ordered instead, trying to calm her tone, not letting the waver of shock show through her voice.

Just like that, the crowd parted and Paul moved through. Dropping to his knees by Emma’s side and trying to shake her. “Emma?”

Schauffer flicked off the audio again. The heartbreak in his words were so human it was terrifying. 

‘Emma, you are perfect,’ she could still read his lips. ‘So strong, so brave.’ 

The Hive sensed the absence of their rulers and scattered as fast as they could.

She collapsed into her chair, not even noticing she had been standing against the blood was rushing to her ears so loudly that it didn’t matter whether the audio was on or not. She exhaled and took in a deep breath, letting her surroundings sink back into her senses. She let the blood dribble down her chin, not bothering to wipe it away.

She was in the radio room, now the battle field, but her heart was beating just as fast and her body was just as sore. The lights were all switched off, the only brightness coming from her computer screen. She dragged a palm across her face to wipe off the sweat on her skin.   
Holy shit. There it was. Emma was out, and Paul was a clean, safe shot. 

Her hands were shaky from relief and exhaustion as she fumbled a hand forward to try and turn the comms back on to remind someone to shoot, her vision was turning, and she missed. 

But then some one, she didn’t see who, pulled out their tranq to shoot between Paul’s shoulders. He didn’t put up as much of a fight, his body collapsing on top of Emma’s to keep her safe. 

And it wasn’t until the camera turned just slightly did she see that it was Melissa who fired the final shot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this chapter was an utter shitshow lmao & maybe taking a brief break?? We’ll see how we go bc the next three chapters have been my favourite to plan out but I’ve got a deadline for a manuscript & uni enrolling is a bitch so we OOGH


	21. Nothing left

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Schauffer is happy because Paul and Emma can’t hurt anyone anymore, but most of PEIP is happy they have free, safe access to the two people they hate most

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! So firstly this has surpassed 90k words meaning this is officially longer than most novels, (in reference together was 40k and the father, daughter, family series was only 35k! So this is a lot longer than I thought!) but secondly!! I saw on tumblr the art posted by muffincat-the-destroyer and I don’t know their ao3 tag but I saw the art and I was in love and it’s so beautiful and I have major heart eyes for it

Schauffer couldn’t believe Paul was right in front of her. She had her face to the glass like a kid at a candy store, in utter disbelief that the key to unraveling it all was right in front of her. Maybe she really could tie it all up in three days. 

Perkins and Matthews were being kept in the secondary observation lab, it had sturdier cages, each separated by a walk way instead of a wall and featuring far more restrains. It was built for more violent members of the Hive who wouldn’t take their vaccines as easily and now it was perfect for keeping the wild beasts in. 

Well, Emma was rather feral, so much so that the soldiers in charge had decided the restraints might be better, but there was something different about Paul now that they had been separated. He was sitting on the floor rather than restlessly pacing, his eyes were shut and he was only singing to himself. 

She tapped her finger on the glass as if to stir a reaction out of him. She didn’t want to have missed the fun part. “Matthews!” She called, pounding a fist on the glass. “What do you have to say for yourself?” 

“I just want to see Emma.” No reaction, he blinked open his eyes, they were still blue, but a fainter shade than they once were. 

Melissa frowned, offset by his stoicism and submissiveness. 

“I was hoping to still get some energy out of him at least,” Schauffer grunted. “D’you reckon Emma’s much different?” 

“Well, she’s been with the Professor since she got here, she’s been angry since she woke up,” Melissa reported. “Washington and Jefferson tranqued her to tie her up to the restraints for safety.”

“So what’s his deal?” She asked. 

Melissa murmured something to herself uncertainly. “I don’t know. Uh, shouldn’t we be keeping them together?”

“No. We don’t need them going all powerhouse on us. Let’s keep them apart for now,” Schauffer turned on her crutches to go inspect Emma’s cell across the hall.

Just as promised, she was seething. And Schauffer imaged this was much worse than before her arms and legs had been restrained to a tilt table. She was really writhing though, Schauffer almost thought she was going to break them. 

The Professor wasn’t technically allowed in the secondary observatory lab right now. He had permission to enter the main lab because Schauffer thought his doctorate might help speed up the process, but apparently nothing was stopping him from ‘getting to his child.’   
He was pressing a hand up to the glass with a wince, barely able to look at her in that state. 

“She has the anger of a much taller woman,” Melissa observed, flinching back from the glass. 

“I wish she’d calm down,” Hidgens frowned. “I don’t like seeing her like this. Why couldn’t she be more like Paul?” 

“Well, we’re working that out,” Schauffer assured him. She had been considering it had to do with the spores. Maybe without a proximity to the meteor, or anyone else infected, he was getting weaker. “But it certainly won’t be easy to administer a vaccine with this sort of attitude.” She couldn’t send Taylor in there to do it, she would have to. 

She pressed down on the radio button. “Perkins? You wanna be reasonable or have you got something to work out of your system?” 

“Let me see my boy!” She shouted back.

Melissa clapped her hands to her ears as her voice came back through the speaker. It was loud. 

“Alright, well you’ll have to take a quick vaccination, then you can see him. How’s that sound?” She bartered. 

Emma let out a frustrated scream through gritted teeth, fists clenched. 

“Well. I think that was a yes,” Schauffer elbowed Melissa with a grin. “I’ll handle it. She looks like she could go off the rails pretty quickly.” 

Hidgens bit down on his nails. “Will you please be careful with her?”

“As careful as I can be, promise,” Schauffer nodded. 

Melissa set down the tray of needles she had been carrying. “Can you get a hazmat suit on?” 

“I’ve taken the vaccine myself. I should be fine. Not like I could get a suit like that on over my knee,” she joked. She was thriving today, at least when it came to Paul and Emma. She was however, a bit iffy about the lack of reply from the Brigadier, Savant was yet to allow or even acknowledge her request for an extension. 

“Emma doesn’t like needles,” he tried to inform the both of them, being mostly unheard as Schauffer opened up the door to the prep room. 

“Take a step back when I go in alright? We don’t want to risk anything.” Schauffer picked up the first needle after putting on her gloves. “This’ll be quick.” 

Melissa got the door for her to help her into the prep room before assuring it was securely locked. 

Schauffer had her tranq and a taser on her, and she was very much expecting to use both. 

The air changed as she entered the cell, fixing her sight on Emma for any sudden movements. 

She was standing right there in front of her, almost back where it all started in the Clivesdale hospital. She was half expecting Paul to show up and snatch her away again. But she was going to keep Emma this time. The only difference was that Emma had not been buckled to the tilt table last time.

“Alright, nice and simple, how’re you doing, Perkins?” There was a clear vibe to the room, Schauffer and Perkins were staring each other down in preparation for the other to make a move. They were both quite aware that only about two weeks ago that Emma had tried to beat the colonel to death. 

“Where’s Paul?” She asked, her breathing heavy and growl-y. Her voice didn’t have any music left to it, it was almost normal.   
Her back was hunched like she was ready to attack if she had to. 

“Paul’s in the cell across the hall, Emma,” she informed her calmly, her fingers running along her tranq. “He’s fine.” 

Emma grunted, trying to stare through the one sided glasses. “Well bring him to me! Or else!” 

“We can make that happen, Perkins. All you have to do is take a quick shot,” she held up the needle but by the shocked look in Emma’s eyes she hadn’t heard a word. 

“Hey!” Emma snapped. “No, no, no, no!” She pushed herself up on her elbows, yanking at the restraints like her life depended on it. 

“Woah, Perkins, sit back down!” Schauffer rushed to stop the table tilting, grabbing onto the back. 

But the movement of the table didn’t stop her at all, and she began to call out for Paul as she pulled harder at the restraints. 

“Don’t panic! It’ll be quick!” 

“No!” She spat, tearing one hand straight out of the buckle holding it down. 

Schauffer backed up from the table as Emma swatted at her, planning a hasty retreat just in time. By the time she got back to the prep room Emma had freed herself to go and shy into the corner. 

“Oh boy,” Melissa murmured. 

“Oh, oh no, my dear!” Hidgens looked like he was about to race in there and comfort her any second now, having followed her over to her side of the room. 

“That’s not going to be an easy fix, I can only imagine how awful Paul’ll be.” Schauffer set the the needle down, brushing her good hand down on her uniform to hide any trace of the nervous sweat that had just broken out. “Shit, she’s strong. The hive’s still got some horse power.” 

Melissa shrugged. “I thought someone along the line mentioned Emma didn’t like needles, right?” 

“Yes, that’s I’m saying,” Hidgens reiterated. “She won’t take it easily.” 

Schauffer recalled that vaguely. It was never something that had been written down, perhaps it was brought up at parole checks or something similar. “Well what do we do about that? Maybe you should have a go, Professor.”

“Oh, I’ve been trying to talk to her this whole time. She’s not very partial to me right now,” the Professor winced like it broke his heart. “She’s been yelling at me so much. It hurts to see her tied up like that.” 

The Hive was great at manipulation when they couldn’t fight back. Maybe it was better to keep anyone that knew her away, just for a little bit. “God...” she needed to think out loud for a moment. 

“Hey, Colonel,” a voice addressed their presence as a collection of soldiers entered the observatory lab. They shouldn’t be there, she had even shut it off to scientists for the time being. 

“You’re out of bounds, soldiers. What do you need?” She glanced at them over her shoulder, keeping an eye on Emma who was still tucked into the corner. 

“We heard you might need a hand,” the leader of the six announced. “You must be pretty busy with this three day time limit, and we know the targets can be a bit of trouble. How about you let us lend some help? We’ll shape them up a bit?” 

Melissa stirred besides her, grabbing onto the back of Schauffer’s utility vest as she did when she was nervous. 

“What?” She could use a spare minute actually. Her day had been non stop since she woke up and she expected it to continue like this. She had really been needing a minute to send her daily report in before it got too late, Savant might have granted her the extension. 

“Well it’s nearly lunch and you weren’t in the canteen at breakfast. Why don’t you take a break, Colonel? Leave these two to us?” 

Schauffer didn’t know what that would entail, but she was short on time, and the gang looked to be made of Majors and Captains and even a Lieutenant Colonel from the looks of their lapels. “Well,” she didn’t want to be too open about needing a break, but maybe working for her platoon’s approval was working for her. “If you insist. Fifteen minutes.” She’d eat lunch and send her email and check in with Doctor Adam’s new vaccine on her way back around. 

“Yeah, fifteen minutes. Get yourself a break, Colonel,” the Major saluted. 

“Well, I’d like to stay here with Emma and Paul,” Hidgens tried to protest. “Just to make sure the both of them are alright.” 

“You’ll worry yourself sick, Professor. I think you could use a break right about now. How about you come eat lunch with us? I’ll need a bit of brushing up on the two, and you sounds like you were close.”

Hidgens gulped, nodding his head stiffly like he wasn’t really convinced. 

“Alright, come with me Melissa.” That was a given, but her assistant seemed a bit hesitant about leaving Paul and Emma with these men. 

She held the door open, but was growing uncharacteristically quiet as she walked along besides Schauffer. 

“Maybe oh, maybe I’ll just wait out here until you come back,” Hidgens shook his head. “I don’t feel right leaving these two behind.” 

Schauffer sighed. Some patients were like this. It was understandable, Hatchetfield must have been a close knit community.   
“Alright then. Just wait outside, let the soldiers do their work okay? Then I’ll let you back in.”

Hidgens nodded graciously, resuming his post out front of the observatory doors as Schauffer and Melissa went off.

“Are you worried for Matthews?” Schauffer enquired quietly.

Melissa nodded. “I don’t know those men. They didn’t seem nice.” 

“They’re good soldiers, Melissa. You’re worried about how this’ll all go down, are you?” 

“Yeah, it’s scary to see him so quiet. Maybe we should just put him back with Emma. Maybe that’d be good for both of them,” she suggested, pushing her fingers against each other. “And I mean, what did those soldiers mean when they said ‘shape them up?’ That can’t mean anything good.” 

Schauffer didn’t know what it mean really either. A light roughing up, or interrogation she assumed. It would probably be good for them, it would tire Emma out or get a few words out of Paul at the very least. No, the two didn’t need to be back together just yet. “No, Melissa. That’s not a risk we can take when we’re this close.” 

———————————————————

When the door to Paul’s cell opened and it wasn’t the colonel or Melissa or any face he recognised, he stood up from the floor to assess the situation. 

There were three soldiers, tasers and tranqs out. What for now? They had already caged him up hadn’t they? What was this about?

“He’s not very scary up close,” one of them said as if Paul didn’t understand English. 

“What do you want?” Paul asked them.   
He truly saw no point to harming them or infecting them any more. If he was here, away from his family and his queen, had he not already lost?

“Oh!” They seemed surprised he could talk in a somewhat normal manner. “You’re who all the fuss is about.”

He nodded. The legacy of the Hive preceded him. Submitting would be easier for everyone in this room, he never had a clue why they wouldn’t be so open to joining the Hive, but that was a problem of the past. “Yes,” he answered honestly. 

“So, you’re also the guy who killed our fucking friends then huh?” 

Paul froze, reaching into the Hive for a response, but there wasn’t anyone on the other end. He hadn’t killed anyone, he had never thought of it like that. He had invited them in to a family, they were all still there. 

Oh. But he didn’t share the Hive with all of them. Especially not towards the end. Some of them did die, in hindsight. But maybe they shouldn’t have tried to harm him or his queen or the rest of his family.   
“That was their fault,” he defended himself. “They shouldn’t have tried to hurt my family.” 

“God, just shut up.” One of them moved towards him and he heard something cracking before a sharp, buzzing pain ran down his spine and stretched out through his body.

He couldn’t scream, he couldn’t control his body and whatever the pain was wasn’t stopping at all. He couldn’t tell where it was coming from. It got worse and worse, the buzzing in his body was too much that his vision blurred white, it felt like his spine was going to crack, he didn’t even notice he had collapsed to the floor because the pain didn’t stop even when the soldiers stepped away with their tasers.

His skin was hot, his brain was already jumbled but now it was like he couldn’t communicate with it. He was begging his body to get up to prepare for the next attack but something funny was happening. 

Flashes of blue in his vision. Paul Matthews, Paul Matthews from CCRP, the guy who didn’t like musicals, the guy who bought a black coffee every day to see the barista, Emma? Where was Emma? Paul Matthews, that was him, not the king of the Hive, just an office worker, Paul Matthews who had killed men with his bare hands. What was that? Was that him? Had that always been him? Who was in charge of his head right now? He could very distinctly feel two entities inside of him, fighting for dominance, and his body was just an onlooker, feeling more and more nauseous with every push. He loved musicals, he loved music, he loved to dance and sing and he never stopped. He was king of the Hive, that’s who he was. 

One of the soldiers stepped in again, kicking a boot at his head. It didn’t hurt at all in comparison to the taser. He barely felt it.

He was vomiting on the ground, a mix of bile and slime and spit and stomach acid. His head was aching like he was dehydrated, but the Hive didn’t need water, he hadn’t felt this feeling before- no, he had, just not him. Paul Matthews had, but the Hive had not. He needed something to drink, or something to fill his stomach to stop the feeling of it eating itself. Where was Emma? He wanted to hold her, she always made him feel better. Made the pain go away.

He didn’t hear the growls of disgust or panic from the soldiers who had hurried back the moment he spat everything up in fear of infection. “The oxygen thief,” someone said. 

Would they leave him alone now? No. He saw one of them pulling out their tranq even though he was curled up in the floor, his eyes staring at nothing. 

Shouldn’t the colonel be here? Or at least Melissa? He had to sit up, it hurt his core, but he could do it. He couldn’t be hit again. He didn’t want to be. But he was. 

The guards didn’t stop to check if he collapsed, they walked out in jovial laughter like they had just had some sort of bonding experience. 

His head began to spin, fighting off the sleepy feeling. He had to protect himself if they came back. He was breathless, but he had it in him to sing a song to try and chase the confusion and pain away. He had to burrow back into the Hive, he felt distant from his family. With the last of his consciousness he had left, he began to sing, and he could only hope that wherever Emma was, she was singing too.   
———————————————————

“No, no, no,” Emma was muttering to herself. “No needles, no needles,” it was like a mantra. She had to find a way out of here before the colonel came back, but she was too scared to move. Not needles, she just couldn’t do needles. 

She tried to reach out to Paul in her mind but she couldn’t find him. She could feel the straying threads of what was left of the Hive, like ghosts. They were confused without their leader, and she tried to offer them some support - they were still here, they would break out and come home and rebuild the Hive from the ground up. 

Their voices were so faint, singing back a song so quiet and disordered that it offered Emma no help at all. 

Then the cell door opened. Was she back already? She tried to stand at the same time she tried to turn, and ended up scrambling across the ground to try and get to her feet and away from the needle.  
Someone grabbed her by the collar of her shirt to pull her up and she yanked herself free of her attacker’s grip. She couldn’t let anyone near her neck. 

There were three of them. Three tall, broad-shouldered, dark haired men.   
No, no, red lights flashing in her vision. She didn’t like this. Why couldn’t she understand what they were saying?   
She barked, snarling at them to keep them away. No one was allowed in this room unless it was going to be Paul. “Get out!” 

“We’ve got business to do here first,” one of them chuckled. “You’re lucky the colonel wants to be gentle with you but your luck ran out, because she’s off right now.”

Emma didn’t care. She wanted a fight, she wanted to punch them upside the jaw to show off their necks so she could strangle them. Their uniforms were so flimsy, no protective quality at all, she could tear right through the chest and snap their ribs like twigs. Get straight to the heart, but leave it beating, she d take it in her hand just so they knew she was in charge, but she’d drag out their pain, take a snapped rib instead and spear through the neck, tear it in half and pop the jugular vein with two fingers, just like that. She could do it in seconds, and she wanted to.   
She didn’t need anyone treating her like she was some fragile kid. Her fists were already balled up, ready to swing, her eyes fixed on the neck. 

They all had weapons ready, laughing just as self-assuredly. She knew she didn’t really have anything on them while they were prepped- but if she could just snag a gun off their belt, or even a baton. But she couldn’t they were tucked away in their belts, she needed space to move but as long as she was tucked back into the corner she couldn’t. She didn’t even have somewhere to run as one of them rushed at her with a baton, hitting her hard over the head to daze her. 

One of them grabbed her around the waist to haul her off the floor, dragging back to the table. She could’ve pulled away if there weren’t another set of hands grabbing her hands and another on her ankles. They pinned her back down, strapping the restraints tight back on as if with the intent to break her wrists or cut off circulation. 

She let out a hiss of pain that doubled as a warning. They were speaking, saying something to her or explaining a motive, something about the way she had killed their friends, it was surprisingly hard to make out what they were saying. She only understood song now it felt, the infection had never coursed so strongly through her blood than now, and it only grew stronger with every minute. She could beat the shit out of these guys if she could get off the restraint table. 

“The Captain’s over playing with your shitty boyfriend right now,” one of the men sneered.

“Don’t touch him!” She thrust forward so hard that the table began to tilt. Good, she wanted to be closer to them, she wanted to grab onto their throats and tear them open. “What do you want with him!?” She could visualise their corpses on the floor in her head, writhing for their lasts breaths. That’s what she wanted. She wanted them to pay. She could almost feel the sensation offal in her hands. She wanted their guts out, she wanted to stick her hand in and pull them out through holes in their throats, listen to the way they slurped, feel the pull as they get tangled over everything else, lick up the spray of blood on her face, it almost made her hungry for it. “You’d better give me my man!”

“Hahah ooh!” Cooed one of them. “She’s desperate for some.” 

And they all laughed, and she wasn’t sure at what. She was boiling with a red, hot anger that they should be afraid of. The only thing stopping her from snapping their spines like twigs and squeezing their vertebrae out one by one through their mouths like fucking Pez dispensers was some lousy bindings. 

That was until one of them pulled something off their belt, she couldn’t tell if it was a tranq or a gun or a taser until it hit her. It was a piercing pain shot right into her stomach, but she felt it through her. She yanked at the restrains binding her hands to the table, arching her back in pain to try and get them off and twisting her body to the side to look for some leverage. She wanted to keel over to protect her stomach but she couldn’t, not with the bindings. She wanted to fight back but she couldn’t do a thing. 

The taser withdrew eventually, but there was a burning sensation on skin where it had been pressed to her. It was like acid had been poured over her skin. She hadn’t felt pain like this in so long. The Hive was supposed to protect her, but where was the rest of the Hive? She felt so severed, so alone, and in so much pain. 

She didn’t know what these three men wanted, but she wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of letting them see her down. She gnashed her teeth together, convincing herself that the scream she let out was one of a threat and not one of pain. 

As if to add insult to injury the guard with the baton took a swing at her stomach. 

Shit, the breath was robbed from her lungs. 

They were deliberating on their next movement when she heard a shout through the microphone over the radio. “Get out! What are you doing to her!?” 

The soldiers faces turned bitter to have a witness, but it must not have been the Colonel because they didn’t pack up too quickly. When they took off, someone else rushed in. 

His hand caressed smoothly over her cheek and she leant into the familiarity of the touch with a whimper. She didn’t have the sense to make out who it was, she didn’t even care that both doors had been left open. Right now there was something so homely about his touch that she didn’t even want to bother. She just wanted to stay like this. It was Paul, right? 

“Emma? Emma dear? Are you okay?” He voice asked, begging for a response she couldn’t provide.

She tried to hum out a few notes so Paul could harmonise. That would make things feel better. But he wasn’t singing back. Why not? Her chest heaved as she fought for breath, nuzzling her head into his hand. 

Then came a second yell, she couldn’t be bothered with that, she didn’t care as long as Paul stayed here. “Just stay with me, Paul. I don’t care about them.” 

“No, Emma, it’s me, it’s Hidgens,” he tried. 

Emma didn’t put it together in her head, and suddenly she recognised the rhythm of the colonel’s stomping footsteps coming in to drag him away. 

“What are you doing!? Get out of here!” 

“She’s hurt! They were in here! Hurting them!” He was trying to explain, Emma didn’t have it in her head to pay attention 

If they were out of her room, it wasn’t her problem anymore. She didn’t even have the power to care.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chronic illness rlly popped out in this one I don’t know what those tables are called outside of the tilt tables but now it sounds like they’re abt to clinically check Emma out for any postural orthostatic tachycardia problems instead of just holding her down I have a feeling this will be very funny to me when I figure out what those restraint tables are actually called


	22. Wild

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Melissa and Hidgens are sent in to try and reason with Paul and Emma

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can u tell I wrote this chapter before I even hit chapter 5 bc I was that excited about it and there are some massive inconsistencies I slapped bandaid sentences over lmao

“Uuh,” Adam was leant over his work space and his series of machines, too preoccupied with his work to answer Schauffer. “Jumbled isn’t a scientific word, you wanna elaborate?” 

“Jumbled, I don’t know what else to say. Their brains are all messed up. Matthews isn’t functioning and Emma isn’t even human. They weren’t even like this when they were in the Hive,” Schauffer tried to explain, supporting the weight of her shoulders on her crutches. “We’ve had Emma tied down for almost 24 hours now, I only have two days left. Do you think the new vaccine will be finished in time?” 

He shrugged, clearly bothered with the questions coming his way when he was so hyper focused on his work. “Possibly, better chance I’ll get it done if you’re going about your own devices. I need to focus.”

Schauffer sighed, rubbing her eyes. She hadn’t really had time to sleep last night with the deadline so close. 

“They’re probably just acting funny because the Hive is messed up, all severed. Y’know a team still went out last night to pick up the rest of the island? There could only be ten or twelve people left out there.” 

Schauffer nodded, grunting. That was good at least. But she didn’t have time for their brains to settle. The mission didn’t stop at getting everyone off the island. She was supposed to help with relocating them back into the island once it was safe, but that wasn’t really happening. But if she got Perkins and Matthews recovered, then at least she had proven something to herself. Getting kicked off a missions was a bit of a walk of shame though, she could already hear the disappointment and frustration that would be rich in Brigadier Savant’s voice. 

She limped back over to the secondary observatory, shouldering the lab door open and balancing herself through. 

“Oh, Colonel! Do you have a moment to spare for a talk?” 

Schauffer glanced over her shoulder to see her General following behind her. “You know I don’t, Mcnamara. What’s up?”

“Thought you’d say that. Let’s walk. How’s the two of them coming along?” 

“Well we’ve got them, and that’s about as much as I can say. Can’t get anywhere near Perkins with a needle and Matthews has shit to say to me...” she trailed off to lower her voice, “spilled his guts all over the floor yesterday. Not a single noise from him when we had to send five armed guards in just to clean it up.” 

Mcnamara seemed to just be listening, walking a few steps behind her. 

“God, I allowed some men in yesterday to interrogate them, I thought. But instead they went in to beat the shit out of the two of them as some sort of revenge for the fatalities. So, good on me. Melissa won’t leave the observatory lab now,” she growled, she would’ve tossed her her hands up in defeat if she wasn’t clutching onto her crutches. 

“Colonel, you sound busy,” Mcnamara commented with a small chuckle. 

“Yeah, I mean obviously, I- Ah!” She turned around to talk to him because he was lagging behind and it was the first time she noticed the sling his arm was in. “What?” 

“Well,” he grunted when he gestured to his shoulder. “Turns our I was accumulating some bullets up here while I had the misfortunate of being in the Hive. Had a surgeon dig them out last night.” With all that had been going on she had forgotten the General had received a couple bullets to the shoulder throughout everything.

“Well you’re looking particularly fresh in that case then,” she grinned, waving up the compression glove her broken hand was in. “Tough business, huh?” 

“Schauffer, you’ve got two days,” Mcnamara repeated for her as if that thought ever left her head. “Then the Brigadier comes to chase you off the mission.” 

“Thanks, Mcnamara,” she clicked her tongue. “I promise, I’m very aware.”

“Well, you know. I’m the head of this organisation, I was assigned to the Hatchetfield case, you were assigned to the recovery.” 

“Oh, so you’re kicking me off prematurely? Don’t you have physical therapy to attend or something?” She hobbled on a little faster. Christ, it was like everyone doubted her. 

“No, I’m just saying, if you think about it, I’m higher on the chain, bud,” he pointed out again. 

Schauffer nodded. She knew, and this was just a rude way to rub it in. 

“Hey, Colonel,” he stopped her by taking a step into her path. “Piece it together, you’re here,” he held up a hand. “Savant is here,” he winced as he raised the hand attached to his bad shoulder. “But I’m up here,” he took the first hand to place it above the one representing the Brigadier. “Meaning?”

“Yeah, meaning? Are you kicking me off or not?” 

“Ah, listen,” he fell back along besides her. “I’m higher than Savant, Colonel. I can grant you an extension if you need it.” 

For a moment, she was in fact thrilled at the idea, but that felt like she was sinking down to Savant’s level. Accepting an extension mean she had failed, and Savant would always have that in the books. “Uh, I’ll think about it, Mcnamara. I appreciate it.” She nodded as he held the door open to let her through, and she limped into the secondary observatory with a sigh. “Let’s see.” 

Inside, Melissa was seated by the wall. The Professor was sitting next to her, but he had fallen asleep with his head on her shoulder. He looked exhausted. 

“Hi,” Melissa gave a small wave. “Nothing to report, Schauffer.” 

“They’re both doing fine?” 

“Doing better,” she answered. “Paul is being Paul, Emma is being Emma,” she was a little crestfallen. “The professor’s asleep. He hasn’t sleep since he’s gotten here I don’t think.” 

“You aren’t looking too awake yourself, Melissa,” she noted as she shuffled over to look at Paul. 

“Rich coming from you,” she joked with a yawn. “We’ll sleep well tonight I bet.”

Schauffer snorted. “Yes, Melissa.”

Paul was sitting in the same place he was yesterday like he was meditating or something. “Matthews,” she spoke through the radio, his nose scrunched up at the sound like it was hurting his head. 

She tried Emma, too. But the moment the girl even saw movement on the other side of the glass she rushed to the door in anticipation to tear down whoever came through. 

“Alright. No luck.”

“Can’t we just put them together, maybe?” Melissa insisted. 

Schauffer had been thinking about it. As powerful as they were together, Emma was pretty dangerous when she was riled up. She had one last idea though. 

“Hey, Colonel? Excuse me, General,” a private stuck his head in through the doors and the General instinctively took a step to cover his view of the off limits lab. 

“What is it, soldier? I’m very busy,” the colonel didn’t even look up from the viewing glass. 

“Uuh, we need someone to cover parole checks.”

“That’s one of the captain’s jobs today, go find the schedule. Where is he?” 

The private made an indescribable face of shock. “Colonel, he died? In the attack yesterday, we lost him. Who should I get to cover now?”

Well fuck. Schauffer could admit she wasn’t expecting that. “Uh, I’ll figure it out, as you were, Soldier.” She dismissed him before she had a chance to come across as insensitive. 

The General gave her a look. 

She cursed to herself. She didn’t really have time to leave the lab. “Alright, do you two feel up to doing a job?”

“Yeah, how can I help? The General and I could go do parole if you want,” Melissa didn’t get up right away, she occupied herself with finding a way not to wake up Hidgens. 

“You and Hidgens should have a go talking to Paul and Emma again. Let them know that we’re going to vaccinate them whether they like it or not once the limit is up. I’ll do the parole, and Mcnamara can give you guys a hand.” 

“Schauffer. I can sort out parole with you. We’ll be twenty minutes, it’ll be faster,” the General offered. “If you put the bars down, you can go in and see them.” Mcnamara tapped about on the control panels. 

“Thank god we prepped for this stuff, huh?” Schauffer mumbled as the hydraulics in the roof of the cells hummed, slowly lowering down the bars. 

Paul blinked open his eyes to shuffle out of the way as the bars touched down on the ground, locking into their spots. 

“I’ll post a guard outside the observatory if anything goes wrong, but I won’t be long, I just have to get this done. Twenty minutes?” 

Melissa nodded, looking forward to a chase to get one on one with Paul. “We’ll take care of it, Schauffer. You can count on me!”   
———————————————————

Paul didn’t particularly want to talk. He had lost. What were they waiting for? Why the cage? 

He recognised Melissa’s footsteps entering the room as she sat down across from him. “Hi, Paul.”

He hummed a greeting. Maybe she had come with their cure, or whatever they decided to call it. Maybe she had come to put him out of misery. 

“You doing alright?” 

He couldn’t answer. He was still shaky from the surprise attacks yesterday. 

“What is it that you want, Paul?” She followed up, bothered by his silence. 

He opened his eyes to look at her, she looked tired too. “Emma,” he told her.   
“Sometimes I picture this happy life where sadness is a myth to me, and that’s something she can give to me.” 

“I’m excited to meet her, when she’s all back to normal. After you guys have your vaccines.” 

He nodded. “I just want to see her. Will you let me?” 

“Once you take the vaccines, man. You don’t look very healthy.” 

That much was true. He felt like shit. He was getting pangs of hunger that clawed through his stomach whenever they hit. He shouldn’t be getting those, he knew he was losing connection with what was left of the Hive. “I feel like I live along the brim,” he paused, he had to search for the rhyme. “Of giving up and giving in,” he finished, reminiscing on his own words. 

“Why don’t you tell me about Emma? In your own words?” She pressed her forehead to the bars, wanting to listen. 

Paul chuckled lightly. Oh how he wanted to talk about her, he turned excitedly, warmth filling up the pains in his stomach.   
“She is my answer, my one and only, her voice is like a morning sun, her touch is like a burning flare, and the hope that hides inside the clouds returns to me when she is there. And in just one kiss, she brings the death of pain and loneliness. She gives me strength when she holds my hand, and I know I’m just a lucky man,” the song rolled right off his tongue, it was the closest he had felt to her in days, and just vaguely he could feel Emma’s presence in the back of his mind and hung on with everything he had.

“She sounds really cool,” Melissa sounded like she didn’t actually know how to relate to the lyrics, but she did enjoy his enthusiasm at least. “And you know, Colonel Schauffer says if you and Emma take your vaccines, she’ll let you see each other.” 

As ready as he was to give in, he knew Emma wasn’t. She didn’t like needles. Maybe, for just a bit longer he could hold on.   
———————————————————

“Hello, Emma dear...” Hidgens’ voice drawled off anxiously as his fingers ran across the bars of the cage. “How are you doing in there?” 

She glared at him coldly, devoid of recognition.

“No, no. I don’t like it when you look so mad at me like that. Once you let the nice doctor’s give you your medicine you can come out of there, okay?” He told her, putting on a voice like he was speaking to a young child. 

Emma stood up and walked in a circle once before coming up to the bars, leaning against them to grimace at him. “I want Paul! I want my love! My sweet boy!”

“I know you do, dearest. I know. But you need to take your medicine. Be a good girl and let them try will you?” He took a step closer to try and entice her. “It won’t hurt, and then you can have a lie down okay?” 

“Hah,” she spat. “You talk to me like you think you’re my dad or something, is that what you think you are? Oh think you’re my dad?” 

“Uh-Emma,” he tutted. “Behave.”

Emma lashed out a hand through the bars of her cage only for the hydraulics to beep in alarm and zap the bars, sending Emma stumbling back into the cage, shocked.   
She cried out for Paul.

“No, don’t do that! Hush, hush, sorry it hurt you my dear! Oh no. You’ll be fine!”

Emma panted and heaved, clutching her hand. It wasn’t a very smart decision but a lesson had to be learnt. She had to behave.

The Hive used to be all powerful and all knowing, invincible and resistant to all attack. The peak of human capability.   
But now the Hivemind was really only a Barista and an IT worker, and the accumulation of their smarts would only help them make mediocre chai latte’s and fix paper jams.

“You look like a wild animal in there my dearest,” he frowned. “This hurts me too. Don’t you recognise me?” 

Emma looked truly thoughtful, approaching the bars and wrapping her fingers around them like a newborn on its mother’s fingers. “Dad? Hidgens?”

“Oh!” His hand flew to his chest in relief. “Oh I’m so glad you remember me! Sweetheart, I’m so sorry this has happened to you, but you need your vaccines.” His heart was fluttering, maybe he was making a break through. Maybe she needed help and she wanted it from him.

Emma laughed sheepishly, rubbing her arms self consciously. “Do I have to? Because you know, I’ve been really scared of needles ever since I was a kid. They hurt me and I’ll cry.” 

“Oh sweetheart! I know. I know you are, especially after what I did to you and I’m so sorry. But this is for your own good, you aren’t well my dearest!” His hand pressed against his quickly beating heart. “Will you let me give it to you? It won’t hurt, I promise.”

Emma turned her back to him like she was flinching away from a hit, she whined. “I’m frightened! Yes! Especially after what you did to me!” 

“Dear, no dear. There’s no reason to be frightened. I promise you, you can trust me. And I-if you can’t, I’ll ask the nice doctor for you.”

Emma wiped her eyes before turning back to Hidgens and racing to the bars. “Hidgens? I’m scared. I miss you. I don’t like being in here!” She whined. “I just want things to be normal again!”

“Well you can come out once you have your injection. Will you just stay still my love?” 

Emma looked pensive, coming up to the cage door. “You’ll let me out?”

“Oh, no dear. I was going to come in there. Did you want to come out?” 

She batted her eyes, glancing shyly at her feet. “Would you let me out, dad?” 

He glanced at the one-way glass. No one was watching, right? Besides, he needed his child. 

“Okay my dear. Can you promise you’ll just hold still if I open the door?” 

She nodded her head up and down. “And I’ll be able to see Paul afterwards?” 

“Yes! You will! Good girl! That wasn’t so hard was it?” He clapped his hands once and she did happy spins and jumps in the cage while he put on his gloves. “Now, this wont hurt,” he retrieved the needles from the prep room. “The Colonel says you’ll need a second vaccine ones it’s finished being tested, but that’s okay. This one will do for now.”

“Let me out?” She pressed up against the cage, her adoring eyes set on Hidgens. “I’ll stay still, I’ll stay still! Just let me see Paul!”

“Good girl, Emma,” he searched for a latch on the cage doors, clicking them open but holding it down with his thumb.   
“Promise me?” 

Emma looked him right in the eye. “Promise you!” 

He smiled, so proud of how well behaved she was for him, even now. He took his thumb off the lock and the door clicked open. 

Shyly, as if in disbelief Emma stuck her head out. 

“Come on, we’ll do it quickly. I’ll be in trouble with the colonel if I don’t do this fast.” 

But then Emma’s all too polite smile turned violent and cunning, her teeth bared with a wild laugh. “God, you’re dumb! I’m going to go find my boy!”

“Emma, no!” He grabbed her by the arm and she whipped around to grapple with him. “Get back!” 

As weak as the Hive was, she still held the strength of at least two very strong members within her. She pushed back against his hands. She knew she would win, he could see it in her smile. 

“Well I guess I should have expected this,” Hidgens grunted as he was thrust up against the wall.

“Yeah! Idiot! That was the worst performance of my career and you ate it up!” 

The cell door swung open, crashing into the wall as guards stormed into the room, shouting with their weapons raised. 

Emma turned to them, her jaw dropping. She let go of Hidgens, straightening up. 

“Get down!” One of them commanded her. The containment breach alarm was blaring off overhead.

But Emma was entirely unfazed. She fixed her eyes on the now open door and shot through the trio of guards and out into the open hall.   
———————————————

“Sorry Paul, buddy-o. No dice until you wanna take that vaccine,” Melissa shrugged. “And trust me, I’m pretty high up in the system here. I’m best friends with the colonel so what I say goes, but I just don’t see a way around it.” She sat back, resting her weight on her palms. “We’re super close. I know her first name, and she doesn’t tell anyone that, I’m basically second in command.”

Paul was silent. He was always silent. He sat on the floor of his cage and bumped his hands together, his eyes shut. 

She sort of wanted a reply to that last thing at least. “Blink if you wanna let me do this the easy way.”

No reaction.

“Gosh. You’re hard to work with. Paul, bro! It’s me, don’t you have anything to say?” 

“You betrayed your family, Melissa,” he winked open one blue eye. “I don’t have anything to say to you.”

“We all betrayed the ‘family,’ blah blah blah. Take the vaccine and you can see Emma!” She couldn’t push any further when suddenly the chamber door flew open and a figure came bolting in with a shout. 

Paul shot to his feet with a wide grin. “Emma!”

“Paul!” 

“What!?” Melissa flung herself up against the wall to get out of Emma’s way as the girl forced the cage door open and threw herself into Paul’s arms. 

Melissa jumped straight up to slam the cage door shut with a confused, shivery yell. “How did you get out!?” She held her hand to the lock on her side. 

Neither of them answered her, they were too busy making up on lost time it seemed. 

Emma was almost purring through their kiss, her body pushing up against Paul so hard that she was almost knocking him off his feet. They stumbled to the back wall so Emma could pin Paul down and sink into him. It was almost softcore in the way Emma was grinding into his hips. 

Melissa wanted to intervene, but only because she didn’t want to look at that.   
“Guys! Come on, cut that out, gross!” She spat, backing away from the cage as the guards piled into the room, Hidgens by their side. 

“Oh Emma, keep it in your pants!” He snapped, frustrated. “You’re completely embarrassing! You’re going to be kicking yourself once you take that vaccine!” 

“I’m never taking a vaccine!” Emma snapped back, pulling away only to throw herself at the bars. 

“Oi! Calm down or we’ve got the right to tranq!” A soldier threatened.

Paul took a step in front of Emma, staring at the guards with silent blue eyes. “You do not have the right to do that.” 

“Hey, you’re king of the two person kingdom. You aren’t our boss. We’ll tranq the both of you.” 

Paul lunged at the bars, his hands shooting through and grabbing onto the guard’s collar, yanking him up to the cage to slam his head against the bars. 

“Tranq! Tranq!” Someone shouted, but Melissa stepped in to pull Paul off him and he grabbed Emma to take refuge in the corner of the cage, his body shielding hers. 

“Just leave us alone,” his voice was cold. “Leave us alone now. You’ve done enough.” 

“Get in there and show them who’s boss,” one soldier suggested.

“No, let them have some rest,” Hidgens demanded. “They’re going to need it once the colonel returns.” 

Slowly, the room began to empty out. 

Hidgens and Melissa lingered before the latter ushered the professor out to go and find Schauffer.

Paul held Emma, still shaking with fury in his hands. “Let me get to them! Let me get to them! I’ll beat the shit out of them!” 

“No Emma my sweet. We’ve lost. We can’t win,” he told her quietly. “We can’t fight it anymore. I just want to hold you a moment longer.” 

“No, Paul,” she tried to struggle free of his arms, but she was tired too. “We haven’t lost. Don’t say that. We don’t need anybody else if we have each other, right?” 

“Emma, shhh,” he just wanted to sleep for a second. Everything was hurting. “We don’t have to fight right now. There’s no point.” 

“No!” She pushed his hands off her, standing up and glaring out into the empty room. With what little voice she had left she began to sing. It would make someone come, and then she could infect them. And then she would show Paul they didn’t need to give up. 

But Paul just stood up to take her into his arms, holding her right to his slow beating heart. “Lay down, Emma,” he eased himself back to the floor, laying her in his lap. “No more fighting.”  
———————————————————

When Melissa and Hidgens hurried her back to the lab, Schauffer finally got to see what all the fuss was about. 

The breach alarm was still going off overhead until she turned it off, and Emma’s cell was empty. 

She found the two of them curled up in the corner of Paul’s cell, he almost seemed to be asleep. Emma was wrapped up in his arms, lounged out across his lap like a cat. Her eyes were slitted like she was tired but she was awake. 

“She broke out. It’s my fault,” Hidgens began. “I have such a soft spot for her. She tricked me into it.” 

Schauffer should’ve scolded him for opening the platoon up to such a risk, but it seemed like it had happened for the better. Even when Schauffer leant into the microphone, hesitant that the spell might break, began to read their names, Emma didn’t snap. 

Her lips curled up in a warning snarl, but she was content curled up near Paul. She planted a kiss in the back of her hand.

In his sleep he was stroking a hand through her hair, curling it through his fingers. 

It did work out. As per the usual she had realised lately, Melissa was right. 

“I think they’re ready to take their shots,” Melissa added. 

“Just, you’ll give them this bit of rest wont you?” Hidgens spoke up gingerly. “Let them prepare for it?” He sounded like he was almost begging on their behalves.

She obliged. As short on time as she had been, she did want to grant them that mercy. Maybe the Hive had crossed some lines, it was definitely something she wanted to crush, but to the people underneath that infection? Well, they deserved it.


	23. Are you proud?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Schauffer has Paul and Emma take the vaccination

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe it’s because this is a novel length story but the payoff felt so good to be that I was vibing too hard and forgot to describe everything so if this is awful just know I thought it sounded cooler in my head

“Holy shit,” Schauffer was actually holding the needle in her hand. “I can’t believe you managed it in time, Doctor.” 

“Well, I had to get it done, huh?” Adam didn’t look as pleased as she did though. “That’s about as much as I could do in the time I had. The most I could do was target the infected cells attached to those violent urges, any sort of procedural memory that might be hanging onto any dangerous motives,” he was biting his lip, waiting for the colonel’s approval. “Uh, just like you wanted, they’ll hang onto the memories, most of them. But this’ll hopefully forget any of the ‘blind rage’ sort of thing.” He shifted his weight between his feet. 

“That’s good, doctor, you’ve done good. Real good,” she turned the needle back and forth, examining the liquid in the syringe. This was gonna do it. 

“Cool, right?” Taylor handed her the tray of needles. “You’ll be alright to do it?” 

“Oh of course, Taylor. I wouldn’t send you in there, we don’t know what they’ll do once the doors are shut.” 

Taylor cringed at the foreboding aura of the colonel’s words. 

Paul was still sitting on the floor of his cell, Emma was stalking back and forth, her hands crossed over her stomach. 

Paul was talking to her, but Schauffer couldn’t hear it through the cell walls. He looked to be trying to soothe her. 

“Well. When you’re ready you can go ahead,” Adam told her.

Schauffer balanced on her good foot for a moment so she could lift her arms off her crutches to lift up the hood of her hazmat suit, four matching guards were waiting for her. 

She held her breath for a moment. She wanted it to be quick, Melissa was waiting outside for her, and the new vaccine was still a secret. She didn’t want the young girl thinking something would be wrong with Paul, she didn’t want to give her any more reason to worry. But at the same time, Schauffer’s mind was just stunned. 

This was the culmination of her mission, all the fighting and paperwork and task balancing was about to come to an end, these were the last two people with any trace of the infection. And they had submit, had she really won?

“Ready to go?” Adam asked.

She laughed, just holding a hand to her heart. “Yes, all ready.” 

Adam dealt with raising the security, locking the observatory doors and setting the alarms just in case of a breach. 

She pressed her hand to the prep room door, turning the lock, entering the room. The tension was so palpable she could taste it. 

Paul stood up silently at the sight of the needles on her tray, taking Emma’s hand to pull her to his chest. He had no song to sing today. 

“Are we doing it the hard way or the easy way?” She pushed her hood back so she knew he could hear her properly. 

It was funny how Paul rolled up his sleeves like he was getting ready to take a normal vaccination. 

Emma shook her head, her teeth clenched as she widened her puny stance in front of the much taller, stronger king. The sleeves of her tattered, stained work uniform were already up, and she despite the shaking of her lower lip she held out an arm. 

Schauffer didn’t recognise the girl in front of her. Was that the real Emma? It clearly wasn’t the bold, smug monster who had bashed in her kneecap and her hand with Melissa’s old bat. 

Paul entwined his fingers with Emma as she presented herself to the colonel, trying to find her eyes through the visor of her hazmat suit. 

“Get them out,” Emma made a quiet demand, her voice weak and dry. “Them,” she jerked her head at the four soldiers.

Even at the idea of Emma so much as looking at them, they all gripped their tranqs and tasers. 

“No, listen to her,” Schauffer nodded, staying calm despite the fluttering of her heart, and she could tell there was doubt or fear in them. But they listened, and backed out to the prep room. 

Emma watched them go, waiting for them to be out of her sight before gripping her elbow, presenting the vein in her arm to the colonel. 

Schauffer pushed her hood off, Emma didn’t look like she even had the resources to infect her. “Ready, Perkins?” 

“Ahh,” she opened her mouth to answer but only a whimper arose. “Uhuh.” 

Paul was holding onto her hand tight enough for her knuckles to turn white. “I’ll see you on the other side my love?” His thumb rubbed over her hand, planting a kiss on her knuckles. 

Schauffer decided it was a mercy to take her before she had the time to grow afraid. She took her shoulder to turn her around and sink the needle into her neck. 

She felt her body go rigid with shock and caught Paul wincing at the sight. 

She clasped a hand to her mouth like she was about to vomit before collapsing into Paul’s arms otherwise very peacefully. 

She prepped the second needle, half worried that Paul would get her when her back was turned, but he was very well behaved, nursing Emma’s body down to the ground and loosening his tie anxiously. 

“It won’t hurt,” although she didn’t know that for sure. Emma was beginning to convulse, so she injected Paul before he could panic, feeling the needle sink into his skin gave her the same sensation as patting a dog or popping bubble wrap, it was satisfying to see him drop down besides Emma, even the sound of his head hitting the floor was like listening to her favourite song. She had won. 

———————————————————

Dawn of the final day, Schauffer was either expecting an email from Savant or none at all, it was entirely possible to have a Major General show up without warning to clean out her office. 

“You don’t have until midnight or anything?” Melissa asked as she trotted by her side down to the quarantine bay. 

“Ah, we call it a wake up in cadets. I’ll be booted off sometime today, I suppose.” She trailed off as she heard the voices of a crowd from around the corner, and she picked up her pace on her crutches to round the corner. 

There was a herd of civilians standing by the quarantine bay doors, and they all swivelled around to look at her excitedly. 

“Are they in there?” Someone asked. 

“Can we go in and see them?” Someone else questioned. 

Schauffer hobbled up to the group, waving them away from the door. “No, there’s no civilians allowed in the quarantine bay, whats all this about?” She could make out familiar faces in the crowd - their parents, their co workers, their friends, the Professor. 

“We want to see them again.” 

“Yeah, can’t you let us in?” 

Schauffer raised her brow at the group. She was happy Paul and Emma wouldn’t wake up alone at least. Citizens weren’t supposed to enter the bay, but Schauffer knew there was no longer any risk of the infection. The apotheosis had been completely scrubbed of the earth. She could let a few people in. 

“Melissa and I have to run some checks first, but if you keep your voice down I’ll sneak a few of you in, yeah?” She gave them a smirk. She liked the attention she got from the civilians who seemed to eat up her every moment with doting respect. 

They let out an obediently quiet cheer as Schauffer shuffled up, parting the crowd around her crutches. “Parents can see them first,” Schauffer announced, and it was fair, but she saw the colour drop from the professor’s face, and she wouldn’t stand for that. “That doesn’t mean you, sir,” she pointed a finger to Emma’s father’s chest. She didn’t know what he had even come for, she left his shocked expression behind as she pushed on, giving a nod to Hidgens. “You’ll see Perkins before anyone else, alright?” She winked, watching his relieved smile return. 

He had been the one to lose sleep by Emma’s cell all night, in Schauffer’s eyes, he deserved the role of Emma’s parent much more than her father from what she had seen. 

Melissa held open the door for her and the two of them vanished from the crowd and into the bay, the anticipation making them walk just a little faster than usual. 

She had let the two of them curl up in adjacent hospital beds so that whenever they woke up they could find each other first. 

Fortunately as they were entering, Emma was just waking up. She was grumbling and grunting, flexing the hand with the IV drip attached to it. 

“Good morning, Perkins,” Schauffer grinned as she hobbled past her bed to hover over Paul. She had the feeling Melissa wanted to talk to Emma first. 

Emma tossed onto her side, blinking open her eyes, too exhausted to talk. Her jaw was hanging slack like she couldn’t feel it, and spit was dribbling down her chin. 

“Hi, Emma,” Melissa’s voice was quiet but she could tell her friend couldn’t hold back her excitement long enough to even give Emma a moment to adjust. “It’s really nice to finally meet you.”

Schauffer pulled over the divider curtains to give the two younger girls a moment of privacy, and over the clacking of the curtain hooks over the rod she didn’t hear Paul adjusting himself behind her. “Ah, Matthews, you’re up.”

He looked her up and down, confused. 

“You might be a bit disorientated at first. You were given a tricky vaccine and we aren’t sure what memories you’ve kept. I’m Colonel Schauffer with special branch of the US army, PEIP. That’s paranormal extraterrestrial intergalactic phenomena. Do you have any memory of the meteor or the apotheosis, Matthews?” 

He blinked, clearing his throat. “Where’s- where’s uh,” his voice cracked and he trailed off like he had forgotten. “Emma?” 

“She’s right over there, Matthews. I just need to run a few things by you. You were given a vaccine to the infection that might have some side effects. You’ll need to be laying down for a while until you recover. What do you remember?” 

“I remember Emma,” he breathed, stirring slightly under his sheets to bring his hands to his forehead. “Am I allowed some medicine? Everything really hurts.” 

“Ah I’d think so. Your body hasn’t had any food, water, or sleep for about a month. The infection was keeping you alive as it’s host fortunately, but that started giving way when we severed off other members of the Hivemind,” she scanned the clipboard attached to the foot of his hospital bed. “You’ve got some visitors, but we’ll need you under surveillance for a while. You need to let us know when the memories start coming back, alright?” 

“I don’t- I don’t remember. I just really want Emma, is she okay?” 

“She’s perfectly fine. It’ll take a few hours but you’ll start remembering thing soon, Matthews. You’ve got a visitor who wants to see you for now.” 

Paul very weakly raised an eyebrow in place of making a noise with his sore throat. 

Schauffer withdrew the curtain for a moment. “Melissa?”

Her friend was sitting besides Emma’s bed, rambling on about all she had heard about her. From the look of confusion on Emma’s face though, it seemed Melissa had failed to explain who she was first. Melissa glanced up. “Huh?”

“Want to come say hello to Paul?” 

She jumped up with an excited nod, waving a goodbye to Emma to rush over to her friend. 

“Don’t smother him, Melissa, he’s still adjusting,” she managed to chuckle to her as they swapped patients. “Hello again, Emma.” 

“Oh, uh, Colonel Schauffer,” she began.

“I don’t suppose I need to give you the spiel a second time. How’s that memory coming along?” 

“Sorry, was I supposed to know that girl?” She gave a nervous laugh, her throat sounded dry. 

“No, but she can get a bit excited. You’ll have to excuse her. Feeling alright?” 

“Ugh,” she answered. 

“Ah. Well just know there’s nothing for you to worry about. Paul’s just over there and your professor is going to come and visit you in a moment, alright?” 

“Ooh,” she cooed, sinking into her sheets. She seemed a bit more comfortable than Paul. 

“The Doctor will come and see you when he has a moment,” she promised. “And an officer will show up to fill you in. You’re going to be fine this time, okay Emma?” 

She managed to give the colonel a smile. “When do I get to talk to Paul?” 

“Soon. You’re supposed to wait until you’re out of quarantine to talk but I don’t know if I could do that to such a lovely couple,” she winked. “Just leave the curtains shut and no one can prove anything.” 

Her face lit up sheepishly as Schauffer gathered Melissa to take her away. 

“They’re looking good, Melissa.”

“Yeah, aren’t they? Paul remembers me, he says he remembers me!”

“Well I should hope so, I think I’d have to fire Adam if the new vaccine gave them all amnesia,” she nudged Melissa as they walked side by side. 

She giggled, mostly with relief at her own mistake. 

Just the sound of her laugh made the corner of Schauffer’s lip turn up in a smile. She chuckled and hung her head, shaking it. “You can talk to him when his head clears up. Was it nice to meet Emma?” 

Melissa was halfway through a sentence when they opened up the door only to find a complete silence in the halls.

The once thriving crowd of civilians had shut down, their eyes fixed on something Schauffer couldn’t see past the throng.

“Claire? Come here for a sec.” 

She recognised the voice and winced, her face dusting a shade of red to be called out in front of such a grand amount of people. She placed a hand on Melissa’s shoulder to ask her to stay at the back of the masses. 

Melissa looked up with a paling expression, her jaw dropping and her mood turning south immediately. 

“Just wait here,” she told her. “Please.”   
She walked away, the crowd parting quietly to reveal Brigadier Savant just on the other side. 

“Walk with me, will you Claire?” 

It was almost like she was calling her by her first name to embarrass her. “Yes, Brigadier.” She bowed her head to march over. 

“Two weeks is up, Claire,” she pointed out matter-of-factly. “So what happens now?” 

She knew the Hatchetfield citizens were listening in behind them. 

“You said it yourself, Brigadier,” she raised her head back up, clenching her teeth and keeping her eyes shut in an attempt not to cry or yell or get angry - she wasn’t sure what that feeling in her gut was, but she didn’t like it. “You gave me two weeks.” 

“You spent a few days doing nothing but paperwork, Schaff, you couldn’t have done something more productive?” She prompted. 

She didn’t like that nickname. “I was banned from field work, Savant.” She figured that was obvious from the crutches. 

“Look. We both know why I’m here, Schauffer,” her voice was a stage whisper like she was trying to make it look to Schauffer that she was keeping it a secret from the onlookers. “I gave you two weeks and things aren’t finished.” 

“Yes, Brigadier.” 

“Look, you’re the colonel, Claire! I’m glad you know better than to pout,” she shrugged, cupping her chin to make her look up when her head dipped again. 

“Yes, Brigadier. I know. I didn’t finish, the case is still open,” she admitted to herself. “I didn’t do the job right.” She’d never thought she’d say that out loud, she even had to shake her head to try and get the feelings off her. 

“Hey,” That was Melissa’s voice. “Hey!” She repeated, a little more frustrated as she stormed over to the Brigadier. “Excuse me, Savant, but the colonel did the most that could be done!”

“Oh!” The Brigadier was surprised to see Melissa. “Well I didn’t think I’d be seeing you here again!”

“Brigadier Savant, you gave her two weeks, and she still got the whole island vaccinated and cleared despite your dumb time limit!” She spat. 

Schauffer’s eyes flew open to try and grab Melissa to hush her down. “Just ignore her, Brigadier.” 

“No, you made her risk her life to get it done, do you think she’d be on crutches if she didn’t think she had to rush it?” Melissa insisted, she turned her head back to the crowd as if to insist they joined in. 

Unfortunately, Ted was bold enough to agree, and he strode up to Melissa’s side, sticking his face in the colonel’s. “She broke her knee and even then she was out in the field. Everyone is off the island, so what’s the big deal?” 

The colonel jerked Ted backwards, but once she had silenced him someone else had to chime in. 

“She’s handled the whole situation perfectly, everything she’s done has suited the context and been in the best interest of everyone. She’s put them above herself every time,” the professor added firmly. 

“Okay, that’s enough. I appreciate it, but this isn’t for public debate,” Schauffer tried to hush them. 

“Could anyone else do it in two weeks?” Zoey snapped. 

“She’s done almost everything on her own,” Mr Davidson chimed in. “I’ve been here since day one, and the Colonel never stopped working.” 

“Very cute, Colonel,” the Brigadier sniffed, not even shifting from her at ease stance. She didn’t look impressed at all. 

“Okay, okay. Enough, everyone. I was just doing my job, and I didn’t finish it, alright?” Her cheeks were red, and she barely ever blushed. She hated getting compliments, especially like this. 

“I’ll see you in your office at thirteen hundred hours, alright, Colonel? Don’t make a scene for me, alright?” She gave Schauffer’s shoulder a very passive-aggressive pat before marching off. 

She stood frozen for a moment, her jaw dropped at the scene that had just occurred. 

“Hey, what’s going on here?” Mcnamara was coming around the corner, stopping by Schauffer to wait for a response, but she couldn’t even make up the words in her head let alone get them out. 

“Um,” Melissa cling onto Schauffer’s arm timidly. “The Brigadier wants to see Schauffer at one o’clock,” she breathed, answering for Schauffer who was still standing stock-still. 

Oh, Hatchetfield must be a funny place, a strange, strange place for that to happen. 

“Thirteen hundred huh? Well that’s a shame, actually. Because I was going to have a mandatory meeting,” he spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. “So you won’t be able to go, Colonel,” he clapped her back, jolting her back to the present. 

“Huh?”

“Someone go tell Savant that I’m having a meeting, everyone has to come,” he nodded, tossing a look to the crowd. “You’re all invited too, Alright? 1:00, wear the proper gear, colonel,” he added. 

When he walked off again everyone was staring at her to make the first move.

“Uhh, Melissa?” She grabbed her by the hand and turned on her crutches to leg it out of there. 

“What? What’s happening, Schauffer?”

“We’re getting out of here before shit hits the fan, that’s what. Mcnamara and Savant do nothing but feud. He’s throwing a meeting so he can extend my time on the mission. They’re like two divorced parents and I’m the kid who’s gonna catch the grunt of it. I say we skip the meeting, skip the office, and if they ask, just say we were at the other,” she insisted. 

“Colonel Schauffer!” Melissa tugged at her arm to make her stop. “You can’t run away now. How’ll that make things better?” 

“Well which one am I supposed to attend, Melissa?” 

“McNamara’s!” She told her nonchalantly as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Why not piss of Savant? If everything’s going to go bad anyways I mean. She’s so unfair!” 

“She isn’t unfair, Melissa. That’s just how we work in the military, I’ve told you,” she shook her head, trying to control her breathing. 

Mcnamara was going to give her an extension and Savant was going to make the biggest show of it - put that on her record so every other superior knew she had failed. 

“If that’s not how it works in the military then why aren’t you like her? General Mcnamara isn’t either!”

“I’m not going to piss of my superior, Melissa,” she stated. 

“Why not? She’s about to kick you off the mission, and we want you here Schauffer! Go to the meeting, come on, half an hour, ceremony gear right?”

“Yes, why?” She begrudgingly let Melissa lead her the other way, only because she was yet to come up with an answer. 

“So you know that thing you told me ages ago? Ceremony gear means you get to wear your sword right?” She added in a voice that was high pitched and sing-songy.

Schauffer snorted, rubbing a hand over her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose. “Yes, Melissa. It does.” 

As she pinned her badges to her jumper   
back at her office she had to wonder what was going to be ceremonial about an extension, she chuckled nervously at the idea that it was just another excuse to waste Savant’s time. 

“Want to see her?” Schauffer asked as she pulled her sheath out from her locker. 

“Yes! Yes please!” Melissa beamed, leaning over Schauffer’s table. 

“I haven’t used this since practice,” she admitted, slipping the sheath off to admire the shine of the metal and the slicing sound it made when she pulled it out. 

“Well I heard about that sword fight with the General though!” 

“It was with my crutches, it didn’t count,” she rolled her eyes in amusement. 

“You’ll have to rematch him properly once his shoulder gets better! Oh, but I suppose it’ll heal faster than your knee and your hand, won’t it?” She seemed excited at first but ended with a sigh at the topic of Schauffer’s injuries. 

“Please. I could beat him in my sleep. I hear he was much more into the marksmanship side of things. Don’t know what I was doing wasting my time practicing sword fighting, when will I ever need that again?” She turned her back to Melissa to feel out a few moves, slicing it through the air and only very briefly imagining Savant to be her target. 

“It sure saved your life back then,” Melissa craned her neck to try and watch, zipping up her own utility vest with one hand and keeping her bat to her belt in the same way Schauffer had her sheath. 

“Ah, dumb luck, ready?” She adjusted her beret. 

Melissa gave a thumbs up. “I’m excited. I hope it’s boring so Savant knows how everyone feels talking to her!” She puffed out her chest to make that insult like she had known Savant forever. 

“Well, it’ll only be an extension, she won’t have anything to look forward to, promise.” Not that she would even admit it to herself, but she was sad. She knew that Savant would get some sort of joy out of spinning it around on her, but she was going to smile for Melissa’s sake anyways and let her believe she was changing things. 

The hall was somewhat bustling though. Mcnamara had the flags set up on either side of the podium and even his sling was black to match his uniform. He had a pleased smirk on his face as he watched Schauffer walk in, the Brigadier only a few strides ahead of her. 

“Ah, this bastard is up to something,” Schauffer sunk into her crutches, her back slumping. He was going to make a big deal out of this somehow. 

“Hey, it’ll be fun! Come on, let’s go get seats up the front!” She laughed, prancing along. 

Schauffer was following her when she felt someone grab her arm. “Claire.”

Schauffer turned around, feeling a cold grip on her heart when she saw Savant. Here comes the backlash. “Yes?”

“Just because the General is about to pull a stunt doesn’t mean you don’t have to meet me in your office after this, alright?” 

“Uh, affirmative, Brigadier,” she nodded, gulping as she turned her back to her to catch up with Melissa. 

The hall was filling up fast, first with all the soldiers in their seats, and then the invited Hatchetfield citizens pooling in around the chairs and to the sides, Taylor and Adam finding seats to the left of the stage, the whole room was full of chatter. 

“I bet Paul and Emma are happy to be shut in to the recovery room right now. I can’t believe he invited citizens to an extension announcement. This is ridiculous.” She set her crutches down besides her seat, flexing her bad hand to see how it felt. 

“He must really have it in for the Brigadier. It’s gonna take everyone forever to leave the hall,” Melissa had twisted her back to look over her chair, watching the seemingly endless stream of people with a smile she couldn’t contain at the idea of the drama this would cause. 

Schauffer shot Mcnamara a jeering glare from her seat, crossing her arms as if to say ‘what’ve you got up your sleeve?’ 

When the hall was full, packed to the brim, Mcnamara tapped on the microphone. “Good afternoon, ladies, gentlemen and fellow members of PEIP, and to our valued guests,” he dipped his head in a drawn out matter as if only to waste more time. 

“Oh boy,” Schauffer sighed with a dry laugh. 

“Welcome to the hall, I’m your General, back on his feet thanks to the hard work of your colonel,” he managed to sprinkle into his speech somehow. 

Schauffer rolled her head back when he gave her that shit-eating grin, and a few energetic members of the audience whooped or clapped their hands. 

“Before we begin today’s ceremony we would like to recognise several distinguished guests in our audience, we are very pleased to extend a warm welcome to our very own visiting Brigadier Savant,” there was an awkwardly forced round of applause. “And to the platoon’s friend to all, Melissa Faith.” The clapping was followed by an amused round of laughter and enthusiastic cheers, Melissa’s whole face going red as she laughed along with them. 

“We also recognise our resident doctor and scientist, Doctor Adam, and laboratory assistant Taylor Giddings, and all the citizens of Hatchetfield who have put aside time to attend.” 

“And they’ll need it,” she elbowed Melissa. She wasn’t quipping out of boredom though, she was actually quite nervous. 

“Now, thank you all for coming to the ceremony to honour Colonel Claire Schauffer on the occasion of her promotion to the rank of Major General.” 

The roar of happy applause from the crowd drowned out any thought Schauffer may have been trying to formulate. She could take her eyes off the General’s dumb, shit-eating smirk. 

Melissa was hugging onto her arm excitedly and she couldn’t even feel it. She hadn’t processed any emotion, her whole body shut down, her jaw dropping and the colour draining from her cheeks only briefly before her whole face turned red. 

“Officiating today’s ceremony will be yours truly, General John Mcnamara, Colonel, why don’t you come join me up on the stage?” He beckoned her up with a hand. 

Schauffer’s hand moved to grab her crutches and she missed, clashing them against each other, and they would’ve cluttered to the ground if Melissa didn’t catch them. 

She helped her stand up and ushered her on. “Look at her face! Look at Savant!” Melissa hissed in her ear, so thrilled she could barely keep her voice down. 

Schauffer couldn’t turn her head far enough to find her seat, but she could only image -with horror- what the Brigadier must be looking like now as she stumbled up to the stage, her jaw still slack. 

“Everyone, please stand for the official party and remain standing for the anthem.” 

Having everyone stare at her as she made her way up to the stage made it feel like a nightmare, but this was somehow exactly what she had dreamed out ever since she started at PEIP. 

She looked out into the crowd, not sure what to do. She was to shocked to sing along to the pledge and she didn’t have a free hand to put over her heart or salute, this wasn’t really how she imagined her ceremony going. 

Stiffly and speechlessly she extended a hand to shake with the General, who was grinning so stupidly wide. 

“Good job, Schauffer.” He moved away from the microphone to share a private whisper with her. “Guests, please be seated, it is my pleasure to introduce Colonel Schauffer,” he started the encore applause and everyone followed. “Want to say anything?” He offered almost just to tease her mute shock. “As acting upon my own recommendation, I have special trust and confidence in the integrity, determination and abilities of Colonel Claire Schauffer. In view of these special qualities she has demonstrated potential to serve in a higher grade, and will be promoted to the permanent grade of Major General of PEIP - Paranormal extraterrestrial intergalactic phenomena.”

Schauffer’s heart was going off. She felt like a kid again getting an award at assembly, or getting a good score back on a test. She wanted to laugh or cry happy tears, but she wanted to keep herself composed for wherever the Brigadier was sitting. She knew the whole speech, and was reading further along in her head. Usually, the spouse of the soldier was called up to present the ranking pin. But very clearly, Schauffer had never been interested in taking a partner. 

“And now, ladies and gentlemen, can we please invite Miss Faith forward to help pin on your friend’s new rank?” Maybe he was taking the piss out of the informality of the ceremony, so Schauffer barely noticed when she began to laugh herself, clutching one hand around Melissa’s as the girl hurried to her side. 

“Good job! Schauffer! Good job!” She was giggling as she took the pin and lapel off Mcnamara, her hands were shaky as she slid the pin through the fabric of Schauffer’s jumper. 

“No, this was all because of your help, Melissa!” She tried to tell her. Melissa had been the one to get the ball rolling anyways. 

“Just enjoy your ceremony, Major General! You run this place now!”

“No, no, I’m still two ranks down from the General. It’s confusing, I know,” she tried to explain through the quivering of her own voice. 

The pin latched in, and it felt like something new was added to her life, like a burst of colour exploded into her world. Melissa’s smile was so proud and warm to be by her side as she returned back to her seat. 

“And now,” Mcnamara lifted a medallion from the podium in his good hand. 

Just the sight sent shivers down Schauffer’s spine. 

He held it to her in one hand with a smile that was intimate from the rest of the hall’s cheer. 

She noticed he couldn’t open up the medallion to get it over her head considering his other arm was in its sling. But with her broken hand she couldn’t do it either. So she took one side as he took the other, easing it over her head together. 

“You’ve worked hard, Major General.”

God, she would never get used to that term. “Thank you,” she finally managed to stammer as the medallion fell over her heart, her voice barely heard under the applause and shouts from the audience. 

“Ladies and gentlemen!” Mcnamara grabbed her good hand to hold it up to the sky like she had just won a boxing matching. “It is my privilege to introduce Major General Schauffer!” 

The audience stood from their chairs to cheer, Melissa was clapping the hardest, her smile was pure sunshine, her General’s grip strong in her hand, and she could’ve stayed in that moment forever.  
———————————————————

“Major General, doesn’t that have such a pretty ring to it?” Melissa hummed as they walked down the halls. “Major General, Major General Schauffer.” 

“I think you’re more excited about this than I am,” Schauffer chuckled. 

“As if!” Melissa nudged into her side. “You looked like you were about to cry up there! This must be the best day of your life or something!” Her smile did freeze for a second though. “What’s- how’s the ranking work?” 

“Well usually, I would’ve been promoted to Brigadier,” she rubbed her neck bashfully, her heart still racing with exhilaration. “But I got promoted to the next rank up. Still below General though.” 

“Well that’s a confusing title,” Melissa laughed. “But you’ve got such a beautiful medallion! Come on, we should go back to the rehab centre to celebrate with everyone! Charlotte is still looking after my cat and I want to show her the medallion!”

“Charlotte was at the ceremony, up the back,” Schauffer pointed out.

She nodded. “I know! I was talking about my cat!” She explained gleefully as they turned the corner, just about crashing into the Brigadier. 

“Schauffer,” she began, the shock she must have been feeling making its way through her stoic mask. 

“General Major,” Melissa spoke up to remind her. 

“Yes, congratulations,” she was eyeing up the medallion uncertainly. “I’ll be taking my leave back to the headquarters now I suppose.” 

“Ooh really?” Schauffer cooed. “Off so soon? I suppose that meeting in my office will just have to wait for another day,” gave a toothed grin. 

“Don’t push yourself, Claire,” Savant huffed. 

“Worry about yourself before you worry about me, Soldier,” she pushed past the Brigadier, limping by on her way. 

“I’ll meet you at the rehabilitation centre then, alright Melissa? I’ve just got to drop some things off at my office.” 

“Aww boo, leaving your sword?” She joked, skipping along. She caught up to her to give her a celebratory hug. “That’s alright! Meet me at the doors? I’m going to go tell Paul and Emma!” 

Schauffer nodded, and Melissa darted off, still laughing to herself, high on pride. 

When Schauffer pushed open the door to her office, Mcnamara was waiting for her there instead. “Major General,” he greeted her, his feet kicked up on her bench. He got up as she came in. 

“General, thank you, but if that was just to get at Savant then maybe I should-“ she put a hand on the medallion. 

“No, no, Major General. You deserved it. This was not a two week mission, and you still got it done. What was even left? Some paperwork and some media talk? I’ll handle that, Schauffer.” His hands rested on his hips. 

She wouldn’t deny any offer to take paperwork off her hands. “Uh- I’m not sure how to thank you, General Mcnamara.” 

Without any warning, the calm silence was interrupted by a clash of metal and in reflex she yanked her sword from its sheath just in time to block McNamara’s swing. “Fast.” 

“Couldn’t have given me any warning?” She felt the adrenaline from the ceremony kicking back up. 

“Just wanted to test you, Schauffer. You’re quick. Definitely deserving of Major General, right?” 

There was a slicing of metal as he slide his sword off her parry, swinging at her shoulder. 

She rose her sword to connect with his blow, laughing as her crutch dropped to the ground, leaving her balancing on one foot. “You’ll ruin your shoulder if you keep trying me, General.” 

“You’re going to keep climbing that ladder, Schauffer. You’re good.” He tucked his sword back into its sheath. “Be honest, where you expecting that, Schauffer? Figured you weren’t too keen on the extension, but this seemed like a much better option anyways.” 

“I wasn’t, General. Not at all,” she carefully got down on her good knee to lift up her crutch. “I hope I worked for it. I was only doing what I was told.”

“Well Savant’s order was a complete rig. She wanted this mission, I bet you,” he fell back down into her chair. “You and your team have done something very incredible right here.” 

“Ah. I’m not one for praise, General.” She unhooked her sheath from her belt, limping back to her locker to hang it up. 

“I can keep my mouth shut if you’d prefer,” he was almost definitely playing with her. 

She pulled her ceremony coat off over her head to fish her normal, black sweater out. 

“That scar is healing up just fine, Claire.” 

“Oh,” Schauffer paused to turn her back to the mirror in her locker, looking over her shoulder at the scar on her back peeking out from under her tank top. “Yeah. It is.” 

“Do you ever think about that day anymore?” 

Aside from herself, Mcnamara and Melissa were the only people who knew the story now. She pulled her jumper on over her head. “No,” she confessed, “barely. Not since I told Melissa.” She hadn’t really thought about that day since she had met the girl, honestly. 

“I’m glad. You’re doing better, Schauffer, you’ve clearly got yourself another friend.” 

“Hah. So that’s what that whole thing was about huh? I was wondering why you called her and didn’t just do the pin yourself.” She pulled her hair out from her collar, redoing her ponytail. “You and your ‘strength of the human heart’ crap, John,” she rolled her eyes as she snorted. 

“I’m just checking my General Major is doing alright, Claire.” As she turned around, he had open arm open, giving her a quick hug and a firm pat on the back. 

“You’re a good man, John,” she shook his good hand with hers before tucking her medallion down under her shirt and closing her locker.

“Don’t you have somewhere to be just about now?” He tilted his head to the door. 

She shrugged. “Melissa wants to go celebrate down at the rehabilitation centre. I suppose I’ll tag along.”

“Hey! It’s your party,” he exclaimed. “Go take a break for once in your life, huh? Get a bit loose.” 

She waved a hand at him as she settled back into her crutches. “Don’t encourage me, Mcnamara. I can hold my whiskey.”

“I’d like to see it,” he taunted, opening the door for her to hobble through. “I’d join you but I won’t drink on the job. I’ll finish off these papers for you so you can go celebrate,” his good shoulder bumped into hers, leading her down the hallway towards the doors. 

Up ahead, Melissa was standing by the entrance. She looked up as she heard them coming, waving at the both of them. 

“I haven’t celebrated in a while, Mcnamara,” she was tense at the idea actually. She preferred the work. 

“Well that’s no surprise, Schauffer.” He slowed to a halt, so Schauffer did as well. “But you’ve barely slept these past two weeks. So go have some fun, huh?” 

She gave a guilty laugh. “I’ll try.”

“Now stop loitering, Schauffer. Don’t you have someone waiting for you?” 

She clicked her tongue, forcing a smile so she could convince him. “Got it, General.” 

They shared an exchange of mock salutes before he turned to head back to her office, and she made her way over to Melissa. 

“Paul and Emma think it’s really cool!” She began, linking arms with Schauffer after pushing open the door to walk with her out into the field. 

“Did they?” She adjusted her beret to shield her eyes from the sunset. 

“It’s sad they’ll miss out on your party though,” she added a little quieter. “I wish they could’ve come.”

“Hey, don’t worry about them. I’m sure they’re all the company they need,” she winked at Melissa and the younger girl’s face scrunched up when she laughed. 

“They say congratulations! And you know what? I think Emma and I are gonna be really good friends!” 

“You think? I’m glad Melissa.” It was funny to have Paul and Emma in such a different light. They were the wrench in the works, and now they were on her side. 

Melissa glanced up at Schauffer quickly. “You’re my best friend though, I think Schauffer!” 

“Ooh,” she was embarrassed at the giggle that came out of her, and she wiped a hand across her mouth. “Well you’re my best friend too, Melissa.” She felt like a school girl talking like that, but it felt good.   
Hearing that from Melissa gave her the same feeling as receiving her medallion. “You should’ve gotten a proper award today, Melissa. I couldn’t have done any of this if you weren’t with me.”

“Aww, cute! What a power couple, huh?” The sun caught in her eyes, making them sparkle. She pushed open the doors to the rehabilitation centre, and before she was even a step into the lobby there was an encore round of applause. 

“Colonel Schauffer!” Everyone in the lobby called out. 

“General Major!” Melissa spoke up over it all to correct them with a beaming smile. 

There was a much louder ovation, full of whistles and hurrahs louder than in the hall. This was a whole god damn island cheering for her. 

She held a hand to her forehead to cover her eyes as she blushed. “Thank you. Thank you. There’s no need for all this. I was just doing what I was told.” 

“Oh cut it out with saying that and just pat yourself on the back, huh? You’re too humble! No one‘s gonna blame you if you’re full of yourself for a night!” Melissa patted her back for her as the crowd opened up to envelop them. “We’re proud of you, you know? I’m proud of you, General Major Schauffer!” She kept their arms linked. “Are you?” 

“Oooh,” she cooed, not expecting to have the question turned on her so quickly. But maybe she was. Maybe for a night she could stop to appreciate what she had already done, and look forward to everything else. Hatchetfield was cured, she had the promotion of her dreams, Paul and Emma were rescued safely, and she had a friend again. Yes, maybe she could let herself celebrate. 

“Well, are you, Schauffer?” Melissa prompted, dancing side to side and out of time to non-existent music, too happy to stay still. 

“You know what Melissa? Yes, I am.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On GOD they were the real power couple all along but I still have one more chapter left to put up sometime this week


	24. The apotheosis is upon us

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For starters let it be known that I do in fact know it’s spelt schaeffer I don’t know what compelled me to spell it wrong for the whole time but I did and it really started bugging me towards the end lmao but I’ll miss being able to write her I’ll have to reboot & finish quarantine lmao

Schauffer had never seen Hatchetfield so peaceful. As awful as the infection was, it certainly pulled everyone together. 

The Nantucket bridge was yet to be lowered, there were still a few more press events to sit through - explain the town had been cleared up and put back in order, and will be ready to visit soon. They were going to keep the bridge up though, just until the Hatchetfield incident slipped out of the public’s mind. Hatchetfield had to be a bit self sustaining for a while, any imports would be slowed down because they had to go through PEIP first to be delivered by officers. Gardening was clearly a new trend on the island, and there were flowerbeds and herb gardens at just about every window and nature strip, she had never seen a town so green. 

Today, Mcnamara was doing a media coverage event. He was pretending to be some sort of contractor to assure everyone that the gas lines had been fixed, the infection would stay a secret, PEIP confidential. Schauffer had laughed when she saw his suit, sure, he was just as devoted to his job as she was but she at least had a foot in the real world enough to know that contractors did not dress like he was. 

Surely all of Hatchetfield would be watching the event live of TV, and it was her first day off in a while, so she decided there was no harm in ferrying over to that tiny town. 

She was in her civilian clothes, so if she kept her head bowed far enough no one could recognise her. She wasn’t big on getting noticed, she just wanted a silent lap of the streets to see how the town had pulled itself back together. 

It had been two months since she had anything to do with Hatchetfield, Mcnamara had taken over it entirely, but being as work-starved as she was she decided to run a few errands for him anyways. 

St Damien’s hospital had a new wing up to deal with any lingering effects of the Infection. They had the patent for the Apotheosis vaccines, and all of Doctor Adam’s notes. She just wanted to swing in to see if there was anything of notice she should report. 

She has grown use to the sterile smell of medical bays since the start of the mission, but the small sensor beep that chimed out as the doors open scared the life out of her. She half expected Adam to come charging around the corner to tell her to get back in bed and rest her knee. 

“Hello, can I help you? Are you alright?” The receptionist glanced up at the noise. He must have been worried by her cane. 

“Just here on business.” She slid her PEIP card briefly across the table to establish herself, and could hear the sound of McNamara’s voice from his computer. He must have been watching the event too. 

“Oh! General Major!” He smiled at her card. “Are you here to see the new wing?” 

She nodded. 

“Have you been here before yet?” 

“No, why?” 

A purring chuckle rumbled from his throat. “Just curious. Fourth floor.” 

She raised an eyebrow at his laugh before giving him a dip of her head and a thanks before heading to the elevator. 

She was only one or two days off getting properly cleared. Physical therapy was a bore, but what could be better than actually using her leg again? She really didn’t see the harm, at least she was smart enough to take the elevator instead of the stairs. 

A woman in scrubs got into the elevator with her at the second floor, giving her a quick look to assure she recognised the right face before giving a very rosy smile. “Hello, Schauffer!” 

“Hello, ma’am,” she nodded her head at the nurse. There was a warm feeling in her chest like sitting in front of a fire or being wrapped up in a blanket during a storm. It was nice to fit in with everyone, to not have anyone fear her she supposed. She was just another person in town. 

“Are you going to the new wing?” 

“I am,” she glanced at her face to see if maybe she could remember her name, but was pretty clueless. 

“Oh! You’ll like it I think,” she hugged her arms around her clipboard. “I’m going to the fifth floor, paediatrics branch, but I love stopping by the new wing.” 

The doors beeped open at the fourth floor, and Schauffer was met with a beautiful mosaic spread across all the walls. 

“Pretty, isn’t it?” Whenever the nurse smiled her cheeks were dusted pink. Her orange ponytail slid over her shoulder when she turned her head to wave goodbye. “Have a good stay while you’re here, Schauffer!” 

Schauffer waved back, silent as she inspected the mosaics. It spread across the two walls leading to the bay doors, with not a single blue ceramic on the whole display. 

It was rather pretty, made up of a lot of greens and pinks, and much more interesting then the plain walls of PEIP at least. 

She paced down the length of the hall slowly, pausing to look out the windows at the town. It was funny to know they were all human again, some instinctual part left in her was scheming ahead about how easy it would be to tranq the group of five teenagers enjoying their ice creams in the park across the street. There was no need to be thinking like that any more. 

She stopped halfway through the motion of pushing the wing doors open as she saw the title plaque above the arch. 

‘Schauffer wing’ it read. 

It made her hang her head with a bashful chuckle. She didn’t need a wing dedicated to her for doing what she was paid to do. Although she would love to ask Brigadier Savant how many dedications she had gotten. 

She pushed through, hoping her cheeks weren’t too red. 

The wing wasn’t as silent as she expected it to be. Even in the sparse halls everyone was chatting with each other, bumping shoulders as they walked, laughing and joking with anyone in sight. 

The Apotheosis hadn’t beaten this town. It was a shame the infection dubbed itself, maybe she wouldn’t mind filing out the paperwork to change its name to something stupid, like the singing plague, or ‘inhabitors’. That sounded pretty cool. 

She was chuckling to herself as she approached the directory table. “Who should I speak to here?” 

Her face was recognised right away by the receptionist, so she didn’t need to show her card. “The chief physician is in the physical therapy room right now. He should be free, just to your right! Thank you, Schauffer!”

She wasn’t sure what the thanks was for, but still gave her a smile as she limped off. When the doors opened up for her she was quickly met with the first familiar face of the day. 

“Oh, hey!” Came a surprised call. “Look, we’re matching!”

Emma Perkins was hobbling down the support bars, leaning on the rails and her cane, but she paused as the General Major entered. 

“Hello, Kelly!” 

“Ooh, still hate that name,” she snorted. “Why couldn’t I have chosen it?” 

“Well you’ll get used to it, Kelly. You’ll have to. I’m not doing filing out another twenty booklets of paperwork to get you a new ID card and a new birth certificate.” 

“Ugh,” Emma rolled her eyes, turning around to limp over to Schauffer. “Well I can’t get myself a new birth certificate, and I really wanted to capitalise on the idea of cutting my parents off officially.” 

“Well who would you say you were born to?” Schauffer’s face scrunched up in thought. 

“I’d be an orphan, but ideally, I would be adopted by this guy-“

“Henry Hidgens?” 

“Oh! So you know him,” she leant her shoulder on the wall so she could lift up her bad leg. 

Schauffer wasn’t opposed to that idea actually. Despite all the trouble Emma in particular had put her through, she liked the girl, and she understood a rough family situation. “Maybe I’ll work something out. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Aw, really!” Emma’s jaw dropped. 

“Kelly, come on. You have to finish the circuit, you’re almost done. Get your stretches finished,” the chief physician was seated at the desk in the back of the room. “General Major,” he added. “I’ve got some reports for you, but while you’re chatting you can do a lap yourself,” he tilted her head to the rails. 

“Ugh. You just do this to piss us off sometimes, Doctor Barton.” She leant her crutch up against the wall. “How’re you doing, Schauffer?” She asked before leaning down to try and touch her toes. 

“Regarding the knee? Better, mostly.” With a mostly well-meaning grumble she took to limping along the rails.

“Hey, if that was a dig at me,” Emma chuckled, brushing her hair from her face as she came back up. “Listen. Physical therapy sucks, you hate it, I hate it. You know who really should be in here? Zoey, my manager. She’s the one who crashed the helicopter, I was just paying it forward.”

“That’s not how it works,” Schauffer hoped she knew that. “How’re the memories, Kelly? And you’ve got to call her Erica now.”

“Well. I uh, can’t believe I’ve ripped out-“ She gulped and it didn’t sound like it went down right. She switched to an adductor stretch to catch her breath. 

“Ah, Yes Kelly. You don’t have to say it. Just about everyone in this town has a body count, have you been going to counselling? Taking your medication?” 

“Yes and yes. You know, Hidgens says the same thing. He says that’s why they’re leaving the bridge up, to keep us trapped here,” Emma reported. “Like a prison.”

She frowned. She hoped that wasn’t the sort of rumour that was spreading. 

“He says just like Australia! Hidgens says this is the modern first fleet,” she put on a voice that mimicked his deep tone.

She snorted so hard she had to hold a hand to her nose to catch her breath. “Is that what the professor is saying?” 

“Oh yeah. I mean, I think he thinks it’s charming though.” 

Schauffer had made it to the other side of the room on her cane, and collected the papers from the doctor’s desk. “Nothing too troublesome?” 

“Just some basics. Pass that on to Adam for me and he can handle it all. Thanks, General Major,” he nodded. 

“So what are you in town for, Schauffer? I barely recognised you without your uniform.” Emma grabbed her attention back. “You’ve got a cool scar though. Is that surgery or something?”

Schauffer looked down at her clothes. No black. She wasn’t a flashy dresser, she barely had a fashion sense at all. It was her tank top and some old tracksuit pants.   
“Well I barely recognised you without the work uniform,” she retorted, dodging the question and starting back down the other side of the room. “How’s Paul?” 

“I’m just heading over to visit him now! We’re good, I think at least. It’s hard to get around it sometimes because like, we did some pretty awful shit together. I don’t think either of us would’ve been so dangerous if we were with each other. But who knows? It’s a new relationship. We talked and we don’t think it’s official if you were infected, so we’re going on our first date tonight!” 

“Exciting!” Schauffer grinned for her. “You two better not start it with any sort of survivors guilt either. There weren’t even a dozen fatalities, that’s a lot lower than any other mission. And you were Infected.” 

Emma shrugged, collecting her crutch as she finished stretching. “All done, Doctor?” 

He checked the clock. “All done, Kelly. Have a good day, you two.” 

“Hey, did you wanna come to CCRP with me? You haven’t got anything else on today yeah?” She hopped over to Schauffer, neglecting to use her crutch until the doctor shot her a warning look. 

Most of her soldiers were surprised to see her going out, and had asked about why she wasn’t sticking around to watch McNamara’s speech. She gave them a generic excuse about some other sort of work to do, but really, Mcnamara was embarrassing to watch pull off his contractor impression. She’d get the minutes afterwards from him.   
For now, she was officially on break. After the adrenaline and cortisol has worn off she had finally realised how much her body was hurting, and had lots of time in recovery to get through it. For maybe the first time in her life, she was taking a vacation. “I’ll tag along. It’ll be good to see how Ben is coming along. And I’ve got to thank Nicholas for his volunteer work.”

“Ew. Just call him Ted.”

“I’m following the rules, Kelly. I did not spend the last month on paperwork for everyone to not use their new identities. But yes. I’ll tag along. I’ve got business to do there anyways.” 

“Oooh,” Emma glanced to the side as they got into the elevator together. “So it’s nothing to do at all with Melissa?” She teased. 

Her hand reached to her head to adjust her beret in an attempt to cover her eyes, but she wasn’t wearing it and her palm connected with her forehead instead. She was becoming painfully aware of the absence of a hat on her head. She never went anywhere without a helmet or a beret. “It’s just business, Kelly,” she assured her.

But her heart began to pick up its pace nervously as Emma drove her closer and closer to that building. She had never seen it herself, it was just a plain office complex, but she knew the names of everyone who had worked there, and they all knew her. She had spent quite a bit of time with them in meetings and interrogations about Ben. 

In contrast though, Emma was grinning and grinning wider and wider as they drove closer. “Paul’s gonna be off soon, I’m gonna surprise him. Mind if I pick up a coffee for him first?” 

She let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “Oh, of course!” 

“Neat, thank you! You can come in and see ‘Erica’ and ‘Jude’ if you want. But I’m gonna call them Zoey and Nora.” 

“Watch yourself, Kelly,” she snickered as they turned the corner and pulled into the parking space outside of Beanies. 

It gave her stomach butterflies to see Hatchetfield functioning. It wasn’t a ghost town anymore, lights were on, business was booming, streets were bustling. 

“Aww here comes the General Major!” Zoey called out to the whole cafe as they entered. 

Schauffer ducked her head away from the small applause that ran through the cafe. 

“Yeah!” Emma patted her on the back as she hopped up to the counter to run the orders through. “You want anything?”

“No, thanks.” She could feel people in the cafe turning to look at the scar on her back as she walked through, but just as simply and easily, they turned away. “Uh- actually. Do you make peach tea?” 

Emma seemed surprised by the request but nodded. 

“How was physio?” Zoey asked. 

“It sucked, as per usual.” 

“I’m literally so sorry, Emma,” the nervous laugh in Zoey’s voice implied she had made this apology many, many a time. 

Emma batted a hand. “It was the infection, Zo. Don’t freak out.” 

Schauffer glanced around the cafe as Emma chatted away with her manager. They seemed closer than before. She was pleased to notice two more familiar faces waiting for her to turn. 

“Oh! You’re missing one third,” She moseyed over to the table by the window to the two police officers. “Where’s your chief?” 

“Sam’s at CCRP with his wife,” Doug reported. 

“What’re you in town for, General Major?” Rob asked. She had always liked Rob from day one, and his partner was just as pleasant. She was on the fence about their chief though. 

“Just tying up loose ends,” she tilted her head back to Emma. “Thoughts on the new names?” 

Doug turned their take away cup back from Schauffer, but not quick enough to realise that the name scribbled there was ‘Doug’ and not ‘Charlie.’ “Good, Schauffer.” 

She scoffed jokingly. “What about you?”

“Oh, Bec suits me wonderfully,” he replied; just as teasingly. 

“Hey. Next time you’ve got a town to save in two weeks you find time to come up with names everyone will like,” she elbowed him. “But you three were a great help, pass that on to Sam too, will you?” 

“Of course, ma’am,” Rob dipped his head. 

“General Major! Time to go,” Emma’s hands were full with a tray of cups. 

Schauffer nodded, but turned back quickly to the two cops. “We’ll be wrapping up the Clivesdale HQ in a month or two. But if either of you are looking for a job by then, you’ve proven you’re very capable.” She stood at-ease, which was hard considering the cane she was clutching onto. 

“Thank you, Schauffer,” Doug tilted their shades down and took her hand to shake it. “If you’re ever in town again, come down to the station, alright?” 

Back in the car, Schauffer clutched the peach tea so hard between her hands she was scared the lid would pop off. 

“Were you talking to the cops?” Emma asked as they pulled back out onto the road. “Those guys know how to have fun. Sam’s probably loitering around the office somewhere here. He’s probably on his lunch break and he’s married to Charlotte, she works in IT with Paul,” Emma explained as she flicked on the indicator. 

Schauffer nodded as she listened like she didn’t already know the inner workings of the whole town. She was completely tuned out, just nodding and nodding blankly until she realised they were at the office. 

“What are you looking so scared for?” Emma inquired as she got out of the car, waiting for Schauffer to follow. 

“I’m not scared,” she shook her head, hurrying out to stand besides Emma. 

She gave her a doubtful look. “So, you aren’t worried about the Melissa situation at all?” 

“What? What’s the Melissa situation?” The tempo of her voice probably betrayed her calm exterior. 

Emma laughed. “Hah. Well she’s told me all about you, we’re friends now and-“

“Are you best friends?” She interrupted, cutting her off. She didn’t even know she had raised her voice. 

Emma let out one strong laugh. “I’ve never heard a grown woman say that! No, we’re friends but she was my boyfriend’s friend first, so we’re still getting there. But you walk through those doors and you’re either going to get the biggest hug or have something pitched at you fast enough to knock you out. She’ll fucking throttle you or some shit for going MIA hah, she’s been completely heart broken,” Emma recounted as they both moved unsteadily up the steps. “My leg is still shit for stairs,” Emma changed the topic completely as if the last statement didn’t matter at all. 

Schauffer tried not to let her jaw drop, but had to physically place her hand to her mouth to stop herself panicking. 

“Hey Paul!” Emma beamed as she entered. “All done?”

The tall man was standing in the lobby with a collection of friends besides him. “Hi Em!” He held out his arms so she could quickly steal a peck on the cheek. “All done for today!” 

“I brought you coffee,” she took a sip herself first but recoiled at the taste. “Physio was so long.” 

“Aww, not long now. You’re doing so much better already,” he gave her forehead a kiss, Schauffer cringed. They weren’t ever just going to go for a kiss? Maybe they weren’t there yet. Maybe she had grown a little too used to their Infected counterparts. He didn’t seem to notice Schauffer until a moment later. “Hi General Major Schauffer!” 

“How’re you holding up, Ben?” She managed to ask, her eyes darting around wildly for any sight of Melissa, her fingers still tight around the cup of tea. 

“I’m doing really good today! Bill’s got almost permanent custody over his daughter because of this new identity thing, so we’re going out for lunch tomorrow! And Emma and I were just about to go out for dinner!” He put an arm around her shoulder. 

“Oh that’s lovely, Ben. I hope that won’t involve smashing any kneecaps this time?” She jeered only because she was too nervous to be solemn or serious. “Good to see you two are more sensible about your relationship now.“ But it was still almost unsettling to be able to maintain eye contact with either of them for more than a couple seconds. Usually they’d have their tongues down each other’s throats by about this mark. It was cute to see some human nerves and anxieties, they were taking it slow. A good sign of recovery.

“Schauffer, Melissa’s at her desk,” Emma put her out of her misery. “Through the first doors.” She was happy to put an end to her awkward tangent at least. 

“Thank you, Kelly. Enjoy your date.” She shuffled past them into the main floor. 

A chill shot down her spine at the sight of Melissa. She was talking with Mr Davidson at her desk, resting her head down on her arms, looking like she hadn’t slept in a while. 

Oh god. That wasn’t her fault was it? 

Humorously enough though, she seemed to be the one ordering Mr Davidson around. 

“You can’t do that anymore, Melissa. You’re the secretary.” 

“Well I was her secretary too and she still let me boss people around,” she pouted, tweaking her glasses. “You’re no fun. Paperwork really is boring. Do you know what I was doing two months ago?” It sounded like an interrogation. “Not this, that’s for sure.” She slumped down into her chair, her eyes set on her laptop. From the right angle she could see her watching the broadcast like she was expecting Schauffer to show up.

“Am I interrupting something?” She managed to speak up loud enough to catch their attention.

When Melissa whipped around she looked like she had seen a ghost. 

Schauffer didn’t have time to brace herself before she wasn’t sure what to expect by the time Melissa powered over to her to deliver a kick to the shins.

“General Major Schauffer!” She snapped before wrapping her arms tight around her shoulders in a hug. “Where the hell have you been!?” She sounded like an angry wife who had stayed up waiting for her husband to come home. 

Schauffer didn’t bother to try and pry her off, and patted her back as the girl groaned into her shoulder. “I’ve been on very strict bed arrest, Melissa. Walking on my knee so early ruined my whole leg, and Doctor Adam wasn’t letting me up at all,” she tried to explain with a chuckle now that her shock was mostly out of the way. 

“Then why didn’t you call me or text me or anything!?” She growled.

“We aren’t actually allowed phones in PEIP. We aren’t supposed to have contact with the outside world,” she elaborated. 

“Well then what am I supposed to do!” She finally leaned back, but kept her hands on Schauffer’s arms. 

Hesitantly, she ran her fingers over the imprint of the medallion under her shirt. it wasn’t supposed to be worn out like a necklace, but she had been pretty inseparable from it. “There’s a lot more responsibility to being a General Major than a colonel. And you know, PEIP moves around a lot. Sometimes it’s my job to vanish off the face of the planet for a year or two.”

“I know! But why can’t you just stay on the Hatchetfield case forever?” She pulled at her arm. 

“I didn’t get a promotion to stay on the same job, Melissa.” She brought her in to pat her back again, looking her in the eye to try and offer some comfort. “But Hatchetfield is a funny little town, and this wasn’t the first time something like this has happened, and it won’t be the last. I’ll definitely see you again, alright?” 

“Do you promise?” She pressed both her hands into Schauffer’s. 

“Don’t start crying, you’ll make me cry too,” she rubbed her eye on her shoulder. “I can’t promise anything Melissa. But I’m sure we’ll find each other again one day.” 

“Ugh! You’d better!” She looked like she was going to punch her. 

“I brought you peach tea,” Schauffer changed the topic, she held it forward to the girl, her eyes were wet. 

“Ooh, Schauffer,” she began, sniffling. 

Bashfully, She put a hand to her neck to try and hide how red her skin was getting. “If you want you can call me Claire. I think we’re there by now.” 

“Well Claire,” she reluctantly took the tea from her. Schauffer wasn’t sure what part of the last two minutes she was most worked up about. “Beanies tea is the worst,” she was almost in tears for some reason. 

“Ugh,” Schauffer slapped her head to her forehead with a huff. She could just never get this tea thing right. 

“You always get me the wrong tea, so you aren’t allowed to leave me until you get it right, okay?” She could even get through the sentence without beginning to bawl. 

“Oh, oh, okay Melissa, don’t make a scene. Come on, we’ll go for a walk and get some fresh air, okay?” She ushered the girl out quickly, mostly because she was afraid she would start sobbing too.  
“Come on. Don’t cry. You knew I’d have to leave in the end.” 

“I know but I didn’t think it’d be so soon! I wish dumb Brigadier Savant didn’t put a time limit on it!” She stomped her foot, her face red. She looked like a child having a tantrum. “Why do you have to go so soon?” 

“Come on, Melissa, you’ve got to walk on your own, you aren’t doing my leg any favours, alright?” She patted her on the back and Melissa finally eased off her arm to shamble along besides her. 

“How’re things going with everyone?” She finally managed to ask, her tone still pathetic and miserable. 

“They’re doing alright. Everyone’s recovering, we had a proper funeral for the guys this time.”

“Did you give a proper speech this time too?” She pouted, elbowing Schauffer in the side to show that she was not over herself yet. 

“Yes, Melissa. I did,” she chuckled, brushing the girl’s arm away. “You can’t bully me into staying, girl.” 

“I know. But I wish I could,” she ran a hand under her nose, sniffling again. 

“Doctor Adam’s taking a break because god knows that man deserves it after all I put him through. Taylor made a big show about refusing to go back to geological samples though, they’re a lab assistant now.” 

“I’m really happy for them both,” the poor girl sounded like she genuinely was proud, but couldn’t get past the fact Schauffer had to go. 

“McNamara’s at a press conference today so-“

“I know! We’re all watching it. He’s doing a terrible job at pretending to be a contractor,” she moped. “Contractors don’t dress like that. And I don’t even get what a contractor has to do with the whole gas pipe leak coverup.” She rubbed her eyes as Schauffer lead her over to a bench in the park. “But he’s doing really good. Everyone is buying it.”

“It’s quieter without you, Melissa,” Schauffer finally confessed. “You know, we’re still going to be packing up the office for another two months. You should apply. We’d all love to have you,” she began. 

Melissa took a sip of her tea and whined. “No. I know all I’ve been doing is complaining to Mr Davidson about how boring desk work is now, but that’s what I was made for, you know? Not high stakes action. I’ve got to stay here with my cat and with Paul, and Emma’s my friend too now.” 

“Well, you wouldn’t have to do field work all the time! You could be an officer. You know us soldiers can be idiots sometimes. It’d be nice to have someone around who knows what they’re doing,” she pressed, but maybe she was pushing it to hard. Melissa would be safer as a secretary anyways, and that’s what she really wanted. “Ah.”

“I’m sorry, Schauffer-“

“Claire.”

“Well I’m sorry, Claire. I can’t come, and you can’t stay. And it feels so bad. I’ll miss you! What do I do if I want to talk to you?” She questioned. 

Schauffer watched a couple walk by, laughing with each other as she thought of an answer. “You’ve got lots of friends, Melissa. You’ll forget about me in a year or so. Don’t be so sad.” 

“I won’t forget about you, and you won’t forget about me either I hope!” She gasped. 

Schauffer would never. “Hey,” she started, one hand rubbing against the ribbon on her neck. “Close your eyes for a moment.” 

Obediently, she did so. 

Schauffer took her medallion out from under her tank top, slipping it over Melissa’s head. 

She blinked open her eyes, looking down at it. “Huh? This is yours, General Major.”

“I know, but you can have it,” she shrugged, biting her tongue inside her mouth and staring back out to the park to watch the civilians. There was a trio of children taking turns on the swing set now.   
Off to their left were a group of friends on a picnic blanket, their rug spread right across the touchdown zone of the helicopters. It was like the Apotheosis never happened. 

“But you worked so hard for it!” Melissa wrapped her hands around it tightly. Her knuckles had turned white. 

She nodded. “But I couldn’t have done it without your help, could I?” Across the road, Paul and Emma were walking down the street, hand in hand on the way to their first date. It made her skin tingle as she stayed still. Her mind kept telling her it was a clear shot, look! Paul and Emma, the targets, right there, but that didn’t matter anymore. 

Emma caught sight of her across the road and tugged on Paul’s arm, pointing. 

Schauffer waved one hand to wave as they walked by and they both waved back, harmless. 

They were going to make a good couple. There was a saying at PEIP, ‘nothing brings people together like a life changing disaster, huh?’ And even if they were going to take it slow this time, it was for the better. They could be a whirlwind of force together. She’d let them discover that on their own. 

“Melissa, I don’t need that medallion. It was all in a day’s work. If you don’t take it it’ll just wind up sitting in my locker for the rest of my life. They aren’t ceremonial, they aren’t uniform. They’re just for show.” 

Melissa let out a resigning mumble. 

“You keep that, and that way neither of us will forget this, huh?” She suggested. 

“No. I don’t wanna take it. That means you really are leaving!” She exclaimed, she sounded shocked, breathless. 

“Well I’ll be here two more months, kid. I’m not gone yet. When I get a day off maybe I’ll come see you.”

“Well you’ll have to come and visit me again! I’ve got to show you where the nice peach tea is, and you’ve got to see Ted and Charlotte and Bill, and you’ve got to say goodbye to my cat too! She was part of our gang, Claire! She was in the office with us half the time!” 

“Your cat hates my guts, Melissa. I think she’ll be happy to see me go,” Schauffer teased. 

“No!” Melissa gasped like she had just been deeply offended at the idea. “She doesn’t hate you! She’s just shy. Look, you can’t leave Hatchetfield yet!” 

Schauffer put a hand on Melissa’s shoulder to angle her to look around. “Melissa, don’t you see how happy everyone is?” 

“I do, but-“

“You’re going to be the only one lingering, so don’t be so sad. I brought you something, actually,” she reached into her pants pocket, handing Melissa a card. “I’ve been finishing up on all the new identities, but I’ve figured people haven’t really been liking their new names,” she laughed guiltily. “And I’d feel awful if I gave you a name you hated. So why don’t you pick it yourself, alright?” 

“Really? Is that legal?” 

“Yeah, just, keep it under the radar. Don’t tell Kelly. That’s my office number at the offical PEIP headquarters. Uh, once you’re done with the paperwork you could mail it to me, or you know, if you’ve got a spare weekend, you should drop it off in person. I might be there, or maybe you’ll see the General. People know who you are, I’ve been passing your name around, you’ll get through security easy.” 

“Oh Claire,” she flopped down onto Schauffer’s side, resting her head against her shoulder. “I don’t want to say goodbye.”

“I don’t like to say goodbye either, Melissa. We’ll save that for another day, okay?“ 

She let out her last groan, sighing and giving her a hug. “Okay then, not yet.”   
They sat in silence for a moment, and Schauffer thought she was finished speaking. “You’ve got your scar out,” she commented.

“I figured I shouldn’t be so uptight about hiding it. It taught me a good lesson, Melissa.” 

“Yeah?”

“There’s always a reason to go on. And you’ve got to keep that in mind okay? Don’t get so upset that I’ve got to go, I’ll see you again one day you know.” 

She nodded. “I know, Schauffer. I just don’t know when.”

“Well, me neither. But it’ll happen. I can promise you that.” 

“Yeah, I know,” Melissa sighed, tucking the card into her pocket and patting it to make sure it was secure. She traced her fingers over Schauffer’s medallion. 

She patted Melissa’s back to calm her down. It was going to hurt for her too, but she knew it wouldn’t be long before she could see her friend again. 

They couldn’t say much else, so they both fell into a peaceful silence. Melissa stayed tucked under her arm like she didn’t want to let go, and Schauffer allowed her to stay there. She was listening to the rise and fall of Melissa’s chest as she breathed in and out, but she was keeping her eyes on the town. 

The children in the park were skipping back to their parents, the teenagers at the picnic were just starting their night, cracking open cans of soda and a bottle of wine with a cheerful laugh. The citizens in the community garden across the side of the park were finishing up, brushing mud and dirt off their aprons and gloves. 

The town she had worked so hard for was growing better already, stronger than it was before.

“Isn’t that lovely, Melissa?” She asked, nudging her. 

“Mhm,” she mumbled, but her eyes were shut, she was already half asleep in her arms. Schauffer didn’t think Melissa knew what she was talking about at all, but her blind agreement was sweet. 

Schauffer wasn’t an English major, so once the word Apotheosis started popping up she had to look it up herself. 

‘The highest point in the development of something, a culmination or climax.’

Well, that infection was nothing but trouble. There was no peaks - it had all been downhill. 

But this? The aftermath? It was truly beautiful. This was maybe her new favourite part, this was the highest peak for the town, she was certain. 

This was the real apotheosis, and if this was only the climax, then their story was far from over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for staying tuned on this 100K journey about two of the most minor tgwdlm characters!! I’ve appreciated all of your feedback and compliments and this was a very fulfilling journey for my heart haha
> 
> I’m dropping my infected playlist as well while I’m here if anyone is curious, this was the collection of all the songs I used/ was going to use throughout!!   
https://open.spotify.com/user/zjv84jlj7zhvvjfhk1ohhsrif/playlist/1BzfiJPVOWKvK6OCiWTks4?si=H0Tehnv-RyeENbnp9nI4bA
> 
> And in closing some of u know damn well why I named rob cop Bec & I have no excuses


End file.
